AI Frontier Institute

SCH CD-STUDENT BIOMETRIC INFO

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Illinois SB1239, introduced January 24, 2025 by Sen. Karina Villa, amends the School Code (105 ILCS 5/10-20.40 and 105 ILCS 5/34-18.34) to ban school districts from purchasing, acquiring, or using biometric systems—including facial recognition software—on students. The bill replaces prior language that allowed districts to collect biometric information if certain policies were adopted, with an outright prohibition. Under new subsections (b-5), school districts may not obtain, retain, possess, access, request, or use biometric systems or biometric information derived from them, and may not contract with third parties for such purposes. Within 30 days of the bill's effective date (subsections b-10 and b-15), districts already holding student biometric data must destroy it and provide certified documentation of that destruction to the State Board of Education; districts with third-party contracts must require those parties to destroy the data and confirm destruction in writing. During that 30-day wind-down period (subsection b-20), districts are prohibited from selling, leasing, or disclosing biometric information except with consent of the student's legal custodian (or the student if age 18 or older) or by court order. Biometric information destroyed within the 30-day window may be disposed of without approval from a local records commission under the Local Records Act (subsection d).

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