A group of public education advocates are raising privacy concerns over student data being granted to "Schools of Hope," which allows charter schools to "co-locate" inside public schools and obtain millions of dollars in state funding. They say the breach of student data is especially damaging to students with disabilities and students of color.
During a virtual press conference Monday, educators and parents warned about a rule they say undermines student protections and creates risks for children. The press event was organized by the community-based organization Families for Strong Public Schools.
The Florida Department of Education rule gives Schools of Hope operators access to a wealth of student data. The rule states that "a Hope Operator shall have access to the student information system in the school district in which a School of Hope is located."
The student data that can be shared can include academic histories, disability status and disciplinary records, according to the pubic education advocates. Beyond the charter operator, the information may also land in the hands of third-party vendors.
" That is something we want to bring to light because it's more concerning than just getting annoying marketing me emails about our kids," said Damaris Allen, executive director of Families for Strong Public Schools. " There are some serious safety concerns that come along with this."
"So it doesn't limit it to students within the school that [the School of Hope operator] is already in, it doesn't limit it to students within a certain mile range," Allen said. "It just says student data system, so there are literally no parameters around it in that rule."
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Lawmakers created the Schools of Hope program in 2017 to encourage more publicly funded, privately-run schools to open in areas where traditional public schools had been failing for years, giving students and families in those neighborhoods options beyond a local struggling school.
Opponents to the program, including Families for Strong Public Schools, warn millions of state dollars are being diverted from public schools, posing a loss in quality education and programs for millions of students statewide.
Loss of control, accountability and oversight
Public education advocates warn the unrestrained data sharing would likely most affect students with disabilities and students of color, who are disciplined at disproportionately higher rates statewide, and worried about the disparity worsening.
Data and numbers don't always tell the full story, explained Will Haynes, who is part of the Hillsborough County Special Education Parent-Teacher Association. "Discipline data in particular is dangerous when it's stripped of context," he said.
If a student with a disability has an unmet accommodation, for example, certain behaviors may be more frequent and more often disciplined — a record that'll follow the student around even after leaving that school.
"Disability status, which is a medical diagnosis in most cases, is being willfully shared without consent of parents," said Haynes. "And once that family is shared, we lose control over how it's interpreted and used."
In many schools around the country, Black students have been more likely to receive punishments that remove them from the classroom, including suspensions, expulsions and being transferred to alternative schools, the The Associated Press reported last year.
"We're not just trying to say that [Schools of Hope] would do anything reckless intentionally, however, it can happen," said April Cobb, founder of Sunshine Education Coalition.
The data sharing also weakens local school-board authority over student information, leaving little room for accountability in the case of mistakes or data mismanagement.
" ...They're gonna strip away the authority of our elected board members — and they're elected for a reason," said Gianny Hunt, co-founder of Magnified Voices, a community advocacy organization.
" We're asking for transparency. We're calling for accountability and we're also calling for local control ," Hunt said. "Taxpayers should know where their tax dollars are being spent, not being funneled into private entities, and families deserve to know how their children's data is being used."
