Law Requires New ID Numbers For Students

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed a bill requiring that public school students get new student identification numbers and adding new privacy protections for student data.

Parents had pressed for the protections in the recently-ended legislative session, in a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. John Schroder. Lawmakers agreed without opposition.

The bill puts limits on how Louisiana handles the data and requires a shift away from using social security numbers to identify students.

Jindal's office announced Tuesday the governor signed the bill.

The education department must complete the student identification system by May 1. Local school boards must assign each student a number by June 1.

The state education board agreed last week to spend up to $1 million on the effort.