SIIA Testifies on Illinois Student EdTech Bill, Warns Against One-Size-Fits-All Approach

SIIA Counsel for Education Policy Danny Bounds testified before the Illinois Senate Subcommittee on SB 3735, the Student Educational Technologies Rights Act, urging lawmakers to adopt a more precise and evidence-based approach to regulating technology in classrooms. While reaffirming SIIA's strong support for student privacy and well-being, Bounds emphasized that Illinois already has a robust framework in place through SOPPA and cautioned that the proposed bill risks undermining effective digital learning tools by failing to distinguish between educational technology and consumer applications.

Across both written and verbal testimony, SIIA outlined key concerns, including the creation of unfunded mandates that would force schools to run parallel digital and analog systems, conflicts with federal disability law due to lack of exemptions for assistive technologies, and AI provisions that misunderstand how adaptive learning tools function. Instead, SIIA recommended a "study-first," risk-based approach-similar to recent legislation in Virginia-that would enable the development of evidence-based policies while preserving innovation and equitable access to digital learning.

Verbal Testimony | Written Testimony