The
CTA is a bill being considered by the HELP committee for
mark--up on July 30, 2026. It would overturn the prohibition
against the federal government collecting personally identifiable student information and instead would authorize the creation of a new federal database to track all students enrolled in a higher education institution throughout their entire lives, including their enrollment status, attendance, age, gender, and race. This data would be aggregated with information held by other federal agencies after these students leave college, through data sharing agreements with the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, the Census Bureau, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Federal Student Aid, and potentially other agencies added over time as well.
Whatever guardrails to protect student privacy and anonymity in the current bill could easily be weakened over time, or violated, with the data used to target current and former students simply because they are members of a disfavored racial, ethnic, religious, or other vulnerable group.
We have already seen how the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE team have trampled on the privacy rights of individuals for their own political ends, and how the administration is pushing for unprecedented levels of consolidating personal information across federal, state and private databases for purposes of surveillance and political retribution.
T
he sign on letter is here. If your organization is willing to sign on in opposition to this Act, please fill out the form below. Please also feel free to share this with other organizations. Any questions, please email the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy at info@studentprivacymatters.org and thanks! 