Student information privacy (personally identifiable student information)
LA Student Privacy Law
Students · Biometric · Data security
One of the strictest state student-data laws: it bars local school officials from collecting sensitive information (such as political or religious beliefs, family income, biometric information, gun ownership, home IP address) unless a parent volunteers it, and bars disclosing personally identifiable student information except in narrow, mostly parent-authorized cases. It limits who may access school computer systems, sets mandatory privacy and security terms for vendor contracts, and bans selling or using student data for advertising or other commercial purposes. A companion section requires the Department of Education and school systems to publish their student-data transfer agreements.
- Where
- Louisiana
- Citation
- La. R.S. 17:3914; La. R.S. 17:3913 (Acts 2014, No. 837 and No. 677)
- Status
- In force
- In force since
- 2014-08-01
- Last amended
- 2025-10-01
- Enforced by
- Criminal prosecution (district attorneys)
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- Violations are punishable by up to six months' imprisonment or a fine up to $10,000; contractors who knowingly and willingly violate the contract rules face fines up to $10,000, up to three years' imprisonment, or both.
- Applies to
- City, parish, and other local public school systems, their officials and employees, and charter schools and their management organizations
- The state Department of Education and BESE
- Public or private contractors that receive student information from school boards
- Any person or entity with access to personally identifiable student information (commercial-use ban)
What a privacy notice must say
- The Department of Education (online) and each public school governing authority (at its main office) must publish each student-data transfer agreement, recipient profile, data elements, intended use, contact, and a parent complaint process within ten business days of signing.La. R.S. 17:3913(B)-(D)
Practices it requires
- School officials may not require collection of listed sensitive student information (political beliefs, mental health, sexual behavior, religion, family income, biometric information, gun ownership, home IP address, external digital identity, and others) unless voluntarily disclosed by a parent.La. R.S. 17:3914(C)(1)
- Do not provide personally identifiable student information to anyone except as listed, such as de-identified data to the Department of Education or disclosures authorized in writing by the parent or adult student; recipients must keep it confidential.La. R.S. 17:3914(C)(2)
- No one with access to personally identifiable student information may sell, transfer, share, or process student data for commercial advertising, marketing, or other commercial purposes unless a service contract allows it.La. R.S. 17:3914(J)
Security duties
- Limit access to school computer systems storing student information to listed persons (students and parents for their own records, teachers of record, principals, designated staff, authorized service providers, auditors), each of whom must keep the information confidential.La. R.S. 17:3914(D)
- Vendor contracts must cover access authentication, privacy compliance standards, privacy and security audits, breach planning and notification, retention and disposition, and deletion and return of data at contract end; vendors may not release data except as the contract allows or use it for predictive modeling that limits opportunities.La. R.S. 17:3914(F)(2)-(3) · Only if: Contracts entered or renewed on or after June 1, 2015
Sources
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: Original effective date of Acts 2014, No. 837 assumed to be the default August 1, 2014; not stated in the history note. | Title 17 on legis.la.gov is updated only through the 2025 First Extraordinary Session; 2026 acts touching student data (e.g., Act 661 of 2026 on LA FIRST data sharing, Act 378 of 2026) were not checked for amendments to R.S. 17:3914.
Research reference, not legal advice.