Asking for it from applicants and using it to make admissions decisions isn't legal.
I would want more information, including:
- how does one prove the allegation that information collected for the SLDS was utilized to make admissions decisions?
- what incentive is there for a student/family to provide demographic information for the SLDS, once enrolled?
- is there a law which specifies the timing of collecting demographic data into the SLDS?
- for students whose data already exists in the SLDS, how is that data safeguarded from other schools, when there is a requirement that it must be shared?
In my observation and experience, our local public school district requires this demographic information plus a record of immunizations up-front, even for a visiting homeschool student who would like to shadow for a day. As I recall, school security and knowing who is in the building were the reasons given.
The current US public education system was created under a different administration. It remains to be seen how much DeVos might change the US Department of Education, and how much the US Department of Education might change her.
