Parents in Charge: AZ Passes Law to Safeguard Student Data

Shouldn’t your child’s school need your permission before releasing their name, e-mail address, or telephone number to a third party for marketing or other purposes? Right now, in Arizona, schools don’t need to check with parents first—unless you know your rights and take deliberate steps to object to or opt out of the release of this so-called “directory information.”  

That’s backwards. But now, Arizona has enacted a new Goldwater Institute law empowering parents to safeguard their children’s private information by requiring affirmative parental consent before schools release student data. 

For years, Goldwater has spearheaded the nationwide campaign to put parents in control of the key decisions in their children’s education. Goldwater developed HB2514 (sponsored by Representative Justin Olson) to do just that: require a parent’s written consent for schools to release their children’s personal information. This common-sense bill garnered unanimous, bipartisan support in the Arizona House of Representatives. It passed—unchanged—on mostly party lines in the Arizona Senate. Today, Governor Katie Hobbs signed the legislation into law. 

The bill also requires that schools annually give parents a copy of the school’s parental rights policy—currently parents must go on a scavenger hunt to obtain this critical information. 

Arizona has led the charge in empowering parents to direct the education of their children. From universal school choice to the parental bill of rights to Academic Transparency, Goldwater has been the leading voice for parental rights reform since 1988, developing policy ideas and new laws to continue giving parents the tools they need to direct their child’s education. The enactment of HB2514 is proof of our continued commitment—and we applaud the policymakers who supported this key reform. 

Christopher Thomas is the Director of Legal Strategy for Education Policy at the Goldwater Institute.