Andrew Ting Explains What General Counsel in Ed-Tech Need to Know About Student Data Privacy Law

Student information plays a major role in everything from classroom learning to communication and academic progress. For general counsel at education technology companies, protecting that information is an issue that can come up during product development, contract negotiations, and routine business decisions. Andrew Ting stresses the need to understand not only what privacy laws require, but also what happens to student information once it enters a company's technology.

Understanding the Main Federal Privacy Rules

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, commonly called FERPA, is one of the primary federal laws affecting student information. It protects education records maintained by schools receiving funds through programs administered by the United States Department of Education. Technology companies working with schools must understand how their services affect a customer's ability to comply with these protections.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, creates another important responsibility when online services involve children under 13. It regulates the collection of personal information and generally requires proper notice and parental consent. Schools can sometimes provide consent for educational services, but counsel should carefully assess whether the arrangement meets applicable requirements.

The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment may also apply when technology involves surveys or other sensitive information. Questions concerning beliefs, family matters, psychological issues, or other protected subjects may require additional attention. General counsel should determine which federal laws apply rather than assuming FERPA covers every student privacy issue.

State Laws Create Additional Obligations

Federal privacy laws are only the starting point for ed tech companies. Many states have their own rules governing how student information can be collected, stored, shared, and used. Some also limit targeted advertising, data sales, profiling, and other commercial uses of information gathered from students.

This can make compliance complicated for companies that work with schools in several states. Legal teams need to know where their products are used and what information they collect from students. They should revisit those questions whenever the company enters a new market or adds a feature that changes how it handles student data.

Some state laws also give students, parents, or schools greater control over personal information. Depending on the law, they may be able to request access to records, correct inaccurate information, or ask for certain data to be deleted. A clear procedure for handling these requests helps a company respond properly without scrambling as deadlines approach.

Know What the Product Actually Collects

Privacy compliance begins with knowing what a platform actually does with student information. Legal teams should speak directly with engineers, product managers, security teams, and marketing staff instead of relying only on written policies. Together, they can identify everything the platform collects, including student identifiers, device details, messages, assessment information, and usage records.

Knowing why the company collects each piece of information matters just as much. Some data may be necessary to sign students in, provide classroom tools, fix technical problems, or keep the platform running properly. Concerns can arise when information gathered for educational purposes later finds its way into advertising, profiling, or another commercial activity schools never anticipated.

Andrew Ting, MD, points to an important consideration for companies working in regulated industries: what a business promises on paper should also happen in practice. Strong privacy language means little if employees can access information they do not need or student records remain stored long after they have served their purpose.

Give Contracts Careful Attention

Before a school district agrees to use a technology provider, it may ask the company to sign a detailed student privacy agreement. The contract can spell out who controls the data, how it may be used, what happens after a security breach, and when information must be deleted. General counsel needs to read these terms carefully because signing the agreement means the company is expected to follow them.

Contract negotiations can sometimes expose a gap between what a district wants and what the company can realistically provide. A district might request immediate breach reporting or require student records to be removed within a specific period. Before agreeing, counsel should check with security and technical teams to make sure the company's systems can actually meet those requirements.

Outside vendors also need attention, especially when they have access to student information. Hosting companies, analytics providers, and technical support services may all handle data at some point, even though students and schools never interact with them directly. Counsel should know where that information goes and make sure vendors are held to appropriate privacy and security standards.

Connect Privacy With Cybersecurity

Protecting student information also means keeping it secure from people who should not have access to it. Even information collected for a legitimate reason can become a privacy problem if a weak system allows it to fall into the wrong hands. Strong passwords, access controls, employee training, system monitoring, and encryption can help reduce that possibility.

Companies also need a plan for what happens when something goes wrong. A data breach could require the company to notify school districts, families, regulators, or other parties within a certain period. Deciding in advance who investigates the problem, contacts customers, and handles legal requirements can save valuable time during an actual incident.

Another way to limit risk is simply to collect less student information. If a classroom feature works without knowing a student's exact location, complete birth date, or another sensitive detail, there may be little reason to request it. Legal teams can work with product developers to decide what information is truly necessary and how long the company should keep it.

Bring Privacy Into Product Development

Privacy concerns are much easier to address while a new feature is still being built. Legal counsel should be involved when a company adds integrations, analytics features, artificial intelligence tools, or new ways of using student information. Raising questions early gives developers more room to make changes without delaying a finished product.

Artificial intelligence deserves extra attention when it is used to personalize lessons, recommend content, or analyze student performance. Counsel needs to know what student information is sent to these systems, whether another provider can keep it, and what happens to the information afterward. Schools may also want to know whether people review automated decisions and whether student data can be removed when it is no longer needed.

Privacy responsibilities should also be understood by employees outside the legal department. Product teams need to recognize when a new feature should receive a privacy review, while sales employees should be careful about the commitments they make to schools.

Final Thoughts

Protecting student information takes more than adding privacy language to a contract or publishing a policy online. Andrew Ting encourages general counsels in education technology to look closely at how privacy affects product development, cybersecurity, outside vendors, and everyday operations. A strong approach means collecting only the information that is needed and having clear rules for how it is used, stored, and protected.