This bill mandates that secondary schools provide military recruiters with equal access to students and their contact information for recruitment purposes.
John Cornyn
Senator
TX
This bill mandates that secondary schools provide military recruiters with the same access to students and campus facilities as any other prospective employer or institution of higher education. It requires schools to facilitate a minimum of four in-person recruitment events annually. Furthermore, the legislation compels local educational agencies to disclose specific student contact and academic information to military recruiters upon request.
New Bill Mandates Schools Release Student Contact Data to Military Recruiters, Overriding Federal Privacy Laws
This legislation aims to standardize and increase the military’s access to high school students across the country. It amends federal law to require local educational agencies (LEAs)—your local school district—to give military recruiters the exact same access to high school campuses as they give to college recruiters or any other potential employer. This access is specifically for recruiting students who are at least 17 years old.
The 'Equal Access' Mandate and Recruitment Events
On the surface, the "equal access" requirement sounds fair: military service is a career path, so why shouldn't recruiters have the same shot as, say, the local university or a tech company? The bill ensures this by stating recruiters must get the same access as anyone else looking to hire or enroll students. Beyond general access, the bill mandates that schools facilitate a minimum of four in-person recruitment events each academic year, upon request from the military. These events must be spread out across different grading periods. This means schools can’t just lump all the military meetings into one week; they have to integrate them throughout the year, adding a specific scheduling requirement and administrative load for LEAs.
Your Kid’s Data Goes to the Recruiters
This is where the bill hits the brakes on existing protections and gets real for parents. The legislation requires school districts to hand over specific student information to military recruiters. This data dump must happen within 60 days of the academic year starting, or within 30 days of a recruiter’s request after that. The required information includes the student’s name, academic grade, home address, email address, and telephone/mobile phone listings.
Crucially, the bill explicitly states that this disclosure must occur even if it conflicts with subsection (a)(5) of section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act. That section is the federal law that governs the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which is the main federal shield protecting student data privacy. Essentially, this bill carves out a mandatory exception to FERPA, forcing schools to release contact information that parents might have previously opted to keep private. For a parent who relies on FERPA to control who gets their child’s phone number and address, this provision removes that control entirely, potentially leading to unsolicited calls and mailings.
Who Carries the Load?
For the military, this bill is a huge win for filling recruitment quotas by standardizing access and guaranteeing a steady stream of contact information. For local school districts, however, it’s a compliance headache. They now face a federal mandate to dedicate time and resources to facilitating four specific events per year, and they are forced into a legal gray area where they must violate existing federal privacy laws (FERPA) to comply with this new mandate. For students and parents, the impact is simple: less control over personal data and guaranteed contact from military recruiters once the student turns 17. The bill is clear, direct, and leaves little room for local discretion on privacy.