Schools must now get written parental permission for each student survey
H.R. 4986 — Parents Opt-in Protection Act · Filed by Mary Miller (R-IL) · 16 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 15, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill amends federal education law to require schools to obtain prior written consent from parents (or students if adults) before administering surveys, analyses, or evaluations that ask students or their families to reveal personal information. Currently, the law requires only prior consent; this bill adds the requirement that consent be in writing and obtained separately for each specific survey.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a parental consent requirement for school surveys collecting personal information. It is a privacy-protection measure, not a deregulation or carve-out. The title accurately describes the function.
What the text implies
- Schools may face administrative burden tracking written consent per survey; districts may need new consent-management systems, potentially raising compliance costs.
- The 'prior written consent' standard may chill legitimate educational research and assessment if schools interpret it broadly or become risk-averse about data collection.
- Definition of 'personal information' is not restated in this bill—it depends on Section 445(c)(2)(A) of GEPA, which this bill amends by reference. The scope of protected data turns on that existing definition.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Students and parents gain explicit control over personal data collection in schools through a higher consent standard (written, per-survey). This addresses a real asymmetry: schools can currently collect sensitive family information with minimal parental oversight. The bill does not block legitimate educational assessment—it requires transparency and affirmative permission.
Named in the bill
General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), Section 445, U.S. Department of Education, Public schools, Parents, Students
Where it stands
16 cosponsors: 16 Republicans.
- Aug 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 15, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 21, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 18 - 15”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $44,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 7 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mary Miller, the sponsor, reported $145,130 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee — $44,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 14, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,123 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 14, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Schools must now get written parental permission for each student survey” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr4986 Report an error
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