CO: Billionaire Bucks Backing Tax Hike Stir JeffCo Privacy Concerns


Privacy Concerns



Gates funds 66, InBloom student data system

November 1, 2013

by Ben DeGrow

New out-of-state billionaire contributions to the pro-Amendment 66 campaign have raised Jefferson County parents’ concerns about more than an extra chunk out of their state income tax bill.
In the latest financial disclosure to the Colorado Secretary of State, Colorado Commits to Kids reports million dollar contributions from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help pass the statewide billion-dollar tax increase, known as Amendment 66.
Only the combined $4 million contributed by the National Education Association and Colorado Education Association exceed the amount given by the out-of-state entities to support increasing Colorado’s income tax rates.
“No one makes a campaign contribution that large without having an interest in the outcome,” said Sheila Atwell, executive director of JeffCo Students First. “How much of the new Amendment 66 money will go to inBloom?”
InBloom, a non-profit cloud service for educational data analytics, was initially funded in part by the Gates Foundation. While nine states or districts were initially prepared to pilot the program, all but three have pulled out due to privacy concerns. One district, Colorado’s Jefferson County R-1, is still committed to inBloom and is getting student data ready now to feed into the system.
Even though the Foundation is a non-profit entity, some JeffCo parents have expressed concerns that Gates’ other interests might use the student data tracked by inBloom for marketing purposes and future economic gain
“We are very concerned about big bureaucrats and big business treating our children as mere data points and think every parent should be aware of what is going on in JeffCo – because if it can happen here, it will make its way across the state,” said JeffCo parent Sunny Flynn. “If big businesses can make donations and then be rewarded with big contracts, our children are no more than products.”
Gates awarded Jeffco a $5 million grant this summer to create personalized learning systems for teachers, and a $500,000 grant to prepare student data to be uploaded into a system hosted by inBloom partner LoudCloud. The JeffCo school board approved spending $2 million on the LoudCloud dashboard.
JeffCo Students First says the district has acknowledged not knowing how much these programs will cost in the future, nor provided any evidence they will be effective in improving student achievement. The inBloom issue has drawn the criticism of some school board candidates, who say they would rather see a system that will make teachers’ work more efficient without compromising privacy.
While the district has said discipline data won’t be stored, medical data, achievement data, and demographic information about each student will be included. Due to the unusual nature of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and how “educational data” is defined, some data points may not be accessible or even known to parents. In addition, a 2011 revision to the FERPA law diminished the protection of children’s privacy.
Recent JeffCo school board meetings have featured spirited debates about inBloom. Many parents have expressed grave concerns about the privacy implications posed by uploading student data into a national database that could be vulnerable to cyber attack.
Flynn and a group of other JeffCo parents are sponsoring an inBloom town hall event with Board of Education members Laura Boggs and Paula Noonan on Saturday, November 2, 4:30 PM, at the Peak Community Center on South Ward Street.
Ben DeGrow

Ben DeGrow is co-editor of Watchdog Wire - Colorado. Contact him at Colorado@WatchdogWire.com to learn how to get involved with citizen journalism in the Boulder State.


http://watchdogwire.com/colorado/2013/11/01/amendment-66-billionaire-contributions-jeffco-inbloom/


The very first thing that came to my mind was "A sheep in wolves clothing!!!!

In the latest financial disclosure to the Colorado Secretary of State, Colorado Commits to Kids reports million dollar contributions from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help pass the statewide billion-dollar tax increase, known as Amendment 66.


More information on this tax!!!!

Colorado Tax Increase for Education, Amendment 66 (2013


http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.ph..._66_%282013%29