[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 158 (Wednesday, November 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14553-S14557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD:
  S. 1908. A bill to protect students from commercial exploitation; to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.


                     Student Privacy Protection Act

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to offer legislation, ``the 
Student Privacy Protection Act,'' to provide parents and their children 
with modest, but appropriate, privacy protection from questionable 
marketing research in the schools.
  There are few images as enduring as those we experienced as school-
children: the teachers and chalkboards, the principal's office, 
children at play during recess, school libraries, and desks organized 
around a room. All define a school in our memories and continue to 
define schools today. Clearly, there have been changes and many of 
those for the good. Computers have become more common and are now in a 
majority of classrooms. Students with disabilities are routinely 
included in regular classes rather than segregated in separate 
classrooms or schools.
  However, some changes in my view have not been for the best. More and 
more schools and their classrooms are becoming commercialized. Schools, 
teachers and their students are daily barraged with commercial messages 
aimed at influencing the buying habits of children and their parents. A 
1997 study from Texas A&M, estimated that children, aged 4-12 years, 
spent more than $24 billion themselves and influenced their parents to 
spend $187 billion. Marketing to children and youth is particularly 
powerful however, because students are not just current consumers, they 
will be consumers for decades to come. And just as we hope that what 
students learn in schools stays with them, marketers know their 
messages stick--be it drinking Coke or Pepsi, or wearing Nikes or 
Reeboks, these habits continue into adulthood.
  There is no question that advertising is everywhere in our society 
from billboards to bathroom stalls. But what is amazing is how 
prevalent it has become in our schools. Companies no longer just 
finance the local school's scoreboard or sponsor a little league team, 
major national companies advertise in school hallways, in classrooms, 
on the fields and, even, in curriculum which they have developed 
specifically to get their messages into classrooms. One major spaghetti 
sauce firm has encouraged science teachers to have their student test 
different sauces for thickness as part of their science classes. Film 
makers and television studios promote new releases with special 
curriculum tied to their movies or shows. In one school, a student was 
suspended for wearing a Pepsi T-shirt on the school's Coke Day. In 
another, credit card applications were sent home with elementary school 
students for their parents and the school collected a fee for every 
family that signed up.
  Mr. President, this is not to say that companies cannot and should 
not be active partners in our schools. Indeed, business leaders have 
been some of the strongest advocates for school improvement. Many 
corporations partner with schools to contribute to the educational 
mission of the schools, be it through mentoring programs or through 
donations of technology. Other businesses have become well-known for 
their scholarship support of promising students. And one cannot imagine 
a successful, relevant vocational education program without the 
participation of business.
  Each of these activities meets the central test of contributing to 
student learning. Unfortunately, too much commercial activity in our 
schools does not. These issues are not black and white. Channel One 
which is in many, many of our nation's secondary schools offers high 
quality programming on the news of the day and issues of importance. 
They provide televisions, VCR's, and satellite dishes along with other 
significant educational programming. But Channel One is a business; in 
exchange for all that is good comes advertising.
  Teachers, principals and parents are on the front lines of this 
issue; each day making decisions on what goes in and what stays out of 
classrooms. In my view, too often these decisions are made in the face 
of very limited resources. I believe most educators recognize the 
potential down-sides of exposing children to commercial messages--but 
too often they have no choice. They are faced with two poor choices: 
provide computers, current events or other activities with corporate 
advertising or not at all.
  The legislation I offer today does not second guess these hard 
decisions. This bill, which is a companion to legislation introduced in 
the other body by Congressman George Miller, would prohibit schools 
from letting students participate in various forms of market research 
without their parents' written permission. This bill would also provide 
for a study of the extent and effect of commercialism in our schools.
  This is, I believe, a modest proposal that deals with one of the most 
disturbing commercial trends in our schools. Existing school privacy 
laws protect official records and educational research. Current law 
leaves a loophole for companies to go into classroom and get 
information directly from children--information about family income, 
buying habits, preferences, etc. --without the consent of their 
parents. Marketers and advertisers use this information to target and 
better hone their message to reach youngsters and their families.
  This is not some scenario from a science fiction novel. Elementary 
school students in New Jersey filled out a 27-page booklet called ``My 
All About Me Journal'' as part of a marketing survey for a cable 
television channel. A technology firm provides schools with free 
computers and Internet access, but monitors students' web activity by 
age, gender and ZIP code. Children in a Massachusetts school did a 
cereal taste test and answered an opinion poll. This legislation does 
not presume that these activities are bad or unrelated to learning--it 
simply requires parents give their permission before their children 
participate.
  Mr. President, public education is not a new topic for discussion 
here on the Senate floor. But we rarely think about the actual words we 
use--``Public education''--and what they mean. These are schools that 
belong to us, to the public as a whole: schools that serve all 
children, schools that are the central element in their communities, 
and that are financed by all of us through our taxes--local, state and 
federal. This bill helps ensure that they remain true to their name.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of this legislation be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1908

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Student Privacy Protection 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. PRIVACY FOR STUDENTS.

       Part E of title XIV of the Elementary and Secondary 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8891 et seq.) is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:

     ``SEC. 14515. PRIVACY FOR STUDENTS.

       ``(a) In General.--None of the funds authorized under this 
     Act may be used by an applicable program to allow a third 
     party to monitor, receive, gather, or obtain information 
     intended for commercial purposes from any student under 18 
     years of age without prior, written, informed consent of the 
     parent of the student.
       ``(b) Intention of Third Party.--Before a school, local 
     educational agency, or State, as the case may be, enters into 
     a contract with a third party, the school, agency, or State 
     shall inquire whether the third party intends to gather, 
     collect, or store information on students, the nature of the 
     information to be gathered, how the information will be used, 
     whether the information will be sold, distributed, or 
     transferred to other parties and the amount of class time, if 
     any, that will be consumed by such activity.
       ``(c) Consent Form.--The consent form referred to in 
     subsection (a) shall indicate the dollar amount and nature of 
     the contract between a school, local educational agency, or 
     State, as the case may be, and a third party, including the 
     nature of the information to be gathered, how the information 
     will be used, if the information will be sold, distributed, 
     or transferred to other parties, and the amount of class 
     time, if any, that will be consumed by such activity.''.

     SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.

       (a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United 
     States shall conduct a study in accordance with subsection 
     (b) regarding the prevalence and effect of commercialism in 
     elementary and secondary education.
       (b) Contents.--The study shall--
       (1) document the nature, extent, demographics, and trends 
     of commercialism (commercial advertising, sponsorships of 
     programs and activities, exclusive agreements, incentive 
     programs, appropriation of space,

[[Page S14557]]

     sponsored educational materials, electronic marketing, market 
     research, and privatization of management) in elementary and 
     secondary schools receiving funds under the Elementary and 
     Secondary Education Act of 1965;
       (2) consider the range of benefits and costs, educational, 
     public health, financial and social, of such commercial 
     arrangements in classrooms; and
       (3) consider how commercial arrangements in schools affect 
     student privacy, particularly in regards to new technologies 
     such as the Internet, including the type of information that 
     is collected on students, how it is used, and the manner in 
     which schools inform parents before information is collected.
                                 ______