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Federal Report
Bills to protect children’s online privacy advance
October 28, 2024
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The following report was prepared by John Schilling, president of the ACSA Council of Elementary Educational Leaders and liaison for the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the California Federal Relations Coordinator for NAESP.
Two bills that would increase online protections for children recently cleared a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. In September, the House Energy & Commerce Committee passed The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) and Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would:
  • Increase the age of privacy protection from 13 to 17 years old.
  • Ban personal information of children from being collected.
  • Ban targeted advertising to youth 17 and under.
  • Create an “eraser button” to delete children’s personal information.
  • Create a “duty of care” for tech platforms to be proactive in protecting children.
  • Disable addictive features for youth users.
  • Give parents more control over accessible content and personal information.
The Senate passed these bills in July. The House bills have the same names but contain different provisions. The full House would have to pass these bills when they return in mid-November and resolve the differences with the Senate bills before the end of the congressional term on Jan. 2. It is a very tight timeline. The process starts all over in January. Notwithstanding this recent progress, state actions to protect children online are also vitally important and to keep the pressure on Congress to act.
Biden Administration The U.S. Department of Education has created a resource page containing information and resources to support student mental health and social emotional behavioral support. This is located on the U.S. Department of Education website, at www.ed.gov/teaching-and-administration/safe-learning-environments/covid-19/social-emotional-behavioral-support.
An executive order was also issued about developing recommendations to improve active shooter drills in schools within the next 110 days.