Student surveillance, tracking and monitoring debated

A measure that would require the State Board of Education to develop a model policy relating to the use of student surveillance, monitoring and tracking technology by school districts was discussed on general file Feb. 24.

LB31, as introduced by Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, would mandate that the State Board of Education create and distribute a model policy for the use of student surveillance, monitoring and tracking technology by school districts by Dec. 1, 2025.

Conrad said the bill would enhance transparency and provide parents with tools to help them understand the types of surveillance their kids are subject to in schools.

“It’s well understood that any time you have Big Tech and Big Government holding hands, civil rights and civil liberties are at risk,” Conrad said.

At minimum, the policy would include provisions for identifying and inventorying all such tools, detailing the entities that provide them and disclosing the costs of purchasing and maintaining the tools. It also would describe each tool, including its privacy protections, how data is collected, shared and used, and whether parents can opt their students out.

The policy would require school districts to explain how data may be shared with law enforcement or used in student discipline, ensure accommodations for students with disabilities or IEPs and outline the handling of biometric or personally identifiable information. Finally, the policy would specify remedies for privacy violations.

Beginning May 1, 2026, each school board would be required to adopt a written policy, to be implemented at the start of the 2026-27 school year, outlining standards and guidelines for the purchase and use of mass surveillance tools.

Finally, under the policy, schools would be required to post the inventory and information related to surveillance, monitoring and tracking technology tools considered for use or actually used by the district on the district’s website and ensure the inventory and information are available in hard copy upon request.

Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth said many parents are concerned about the large quantities of data that schools collect and store regarding their children.

“There’s a lot going on in our schools that was never there when you and I were in school,” Kauth said. “[Student’s] motions are being tracked. Their keystrokes are being tracked. Their emotions are being tracked. Everything is being tracked and what we know is that that data is worth money.”

Sen. R. Brad von Gillern of Elkhorn agreed that schools need to safeguard students’ data, but said schools and parents in his legislative district oppose the bill. Their main concern is students’ physical safety, he said, which LB31 does not address.

Districts would be required to spend money to comply with the bill’s requirements, von Gillern said, and posting sensitive security details, such as the location of cameras, could give disgruntled students important information if they are planning a criminal act.

Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt said the measure would not curtail a school’s use of surveillance technology, but merely would provide parents with general information about how that technology is deployed and how data is collected and used.

“It’s not saying publish on the internet all of the routes out of the school from the security camera so that school shooters can use it,” Hunt said.

Conrad offered an amendment that she said contained a number of “stylistic changes” that were recommended to her by senators with concerns about the bill, which was defeated on a vote of 16-27.

The Legislature adjourned for the day without taking further action on LB31.