Fla. Legislature passes student data privacy bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – School districts will no longer be able to collect student data like fingerprints under a bill passed by the Florida Legislature.

The House voted 113-1 for the bill on Friday. The measure (SB 188) now heads to Gov. Rick Scott. Scott has already spoken out in favor of the legislation.

State legislators pushed the bill amid complaints about the state’s move to Common Core State Standards.

The bill would ban school districts from being able to collect information on the political or religious affiliation of students and their parents. It would also ban the collection of biometric information including student fingerprints, palm scans or iris scans.

The state also calls for creating a new student identification system so that school districts could eventually stop using social security numbers.