Fwd: [sfbaycpdiscussion] bill in state legislature to limit military access to student info

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

  CaliforniaBill Would Limit Military's Access to Data on Students

  -- Rick Jahnkow, Draft NOtices, April 15, 2008

  A new bill in the California legislature could, if passed, set a major
  precedent at the state level for protecting students from aggressive military
  recruiting. Assembly Bill 2994, the Student and Family Privacy Protection Act
  of 2008, was introduced on February 22, 2008, by Assembly members Sally
  Lieber (D-Mountain View) and Loni Hancock (D-East SF Bay).

  AB 2994 would accomplish two main goals: (1) make it easier for students and
  parents to opt out from the contact lists that high schools must give to
  recruiters; and (2) put an end to the military's practice of using the Armed
  Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test to extract detailed
  personal information about students.

  The opt-out portion of the proposed law repeats language from a previous bill
  that passed the state legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in
  October of 2006. It addresses the problem of schools not adequately informing
  students and parents about their right to withhold information when lists of
  students’ names, addresses and phone numbers are released to military
  recruiters. Because of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, federal law
  threatens schools with the loss of federal education dollars if they do not
  release such lists, but the same law also says that individual students and
  their parents must be given a chance to opt out.

  Schools have not always adequately publicized this opt-out right and have
  sometimes buried the notice in lengthy handbooks or school registration
  packets. AB 2994 would change that by requiring schools to include the notice
  on any forms they use to collect emergency information from parents and
  students. A check-off box would need to be placed on the form to make opting
  out easy. Schools would also have to give the notice in all the languages
  they normally use on the emergency form, and a student's request to opt out
  would prevail over the request of a parent or guardian.

  While federal law mandates that schools must honor a request to exclude a
  student's name, address and phone number from the lists given to recruiters,
  there is no such requirement when schools voluntarily invite the military to
  administer the ASVAB, which happens in approximately two-thirds of all high
  schools each year. Because of the lack of required disclosure, students and
  their parents are usually not informed that the ASVAB provides recruiters
  with information that goes well beyond the simple contact lists released
  under the No Child Left Behind Act. ASVAB data includes a student's contact
  information, birth date, gender, race, ethnicity, future plans, Social
  Security number and aptitude profile as determined by the test. Unless a
  school dictates otherwise, all of this data is automatically released to
  recruiters shortly after it is processed at the nearest Military Entrance
  Processing Station. Students then have to weather multiple contacts at home
  by aggressive recruiters.

  In addition to the lack of disclosure about the recruiting purpose of the
  test, another problem stems from the fact that the vast majority of students
  who are being given the ASVAB are under the age of 18. Though they are legal
  minors, parental notification and consent are not mandatory, which runs
  contrary to various federal and state laws.

  In November of 2007, the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM)
  released statistics on ASVAB testing in response to a Freedom of Information
  Act request from the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center in Memphis. According
  to the numbers released, out of 573,504 students who were given the ASVAB in
  fiscal year 2007, only 5.7% were tested on condition that their data not be
  released for recruitment purposes. Military regulations grant schools the
  sole power to select the non-release option, yet as these statistics
  demonstrate, the vast majority does not do so. The authors of AB 2994 are
  seeking to address this problem by including language in the bill that would
  make the non-release option mandatory for all ASVAB testing in California.

  If AB 2994 makes it through the legislature, it will effectively end the use
  of the test by the military for mass invasions of student and family privacy
  in California.  It passed its first test on April 9 when it was approved by a
  vote of 7 to 3 in the Assembly Committee on Education. The bill is now
  scheduled for a hearing and vote in the Assembly Committee on Veterans
  Affairs on April 29. If it is approved there, it would go to the full
  Assembly for a vote before being taken up by the California Senate.

  On a more local level, activists in two large school districts in Maryland
  and the Los Angeles Unified School District have won acceptance of
  non-release policies for all ASVAB testing, and the Washington, D.C., school
  system has suspended ASVAB testing until an alternative aptitude test can be
  chosen. This kind of grassroots action around the issue is growing and will
  no doubt continue if there is no intervention at the state level; however, if
  AB 2994 can become law in California, it will make success much more likely
  for anti-ASVAB campaigns nationwide.

  For more information on the ASVAB and AB 2994, contact COMD, comdsd@aol.com,
  760-753-7518. For the text of the bill and to receive email notices when
  there is legislative action, visit http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/.

  (This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed
  to Militarism and the Draft, http://www.comdsd.org/.)

  URGENT NOTE TO CALIFORNIANS:

  Below is a list of the Veterans Affairs Committee members who need to be
  contacted before AB 2994 is heard in the committee on April 29. Letters
  should be faxed a week ahead, if possible. When contacting this committee,
  please focus on the issue of student confidentiality and the right of parents
  to prevent undesired releases of personal information on their children.
  Emphasize that the ASVAB, in particular, sidesteps this right because it is
  given largely to legal minors and without informed parental consent.

  If your local assembly member is not on the committee, write to the committee
  chair, Mary Salas, a Democrat from San Diego.

  For information on testifying at the committee hearing, contact: Erica Costa,
  Office of Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, 916-319-2730 (direct), 916-319-2022
  (office),Erica.Costa@asm.ca.gov.
  Janet Weil

  "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." -- Mary Harris
  "Mother" Jones, labor activist, 1837-1930
  Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it
  now.To unsubscribe, please go to:
  http://lists.riseup.net/www/sigrequest/sfbaycodepinkdiscussion

Vote in the National Cheney Impeachment Poll

http://www.usalone.com/blogvoices.php?Cheney%20Impeachment%3F

Add this text to your own email and blog signatures!