New REMC project helps districts streamline and strengthen student data privacy
REMC recently launched the Michigan Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) Alliance project. This new initiative is designed to standardize and streamline data privacy protections for all students while providing support to the large management task of data privacy.
Districts across the state are juggling hundreds of vendor agreements - each one requiring separate negotiations to meet privacy regulations like FERPA and COPPA. This fragmented approach leads to duplicate work, inconsistent protections, and growing legal costs.
The REMC Michigan SDPC Alliance can fix that! Led by REMC and guided by district tech leaders, regional specialists and statewide organizations, this initiative will:
- Implement a standardized Data Privacy Agreement (DPA) aligned with federal guidelines.
- Create a centralized, searchable database of signed agreements.
- Cut administrative and legal costs by an estimated 30%.
- Ensure consistent protections for all Michigan students.
- Give districts collective bargaining power with edtech vendors.
Information on this powerful new initiative can be found on our website. We are currently registering the first 100 school districts that want to be involved. The Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) is a national collaborative of schools, districts, regional and state agencies, policy makers, and marketplace providers addressing real-world, adaptable, and implementable solutions to privacy concerns. Established in 2015, SDPC operates as a Special Interest Group under the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community.