Will the feds penalize california for ditching the old ones . Heres nbcs jessica aguirre. The outlook is good for a change for schools. Hello and welcome to this class action special. Well have more on the budget later in the show, plus ha special interview about a subject parents may be surprised to learn. Were talking about information like a childs name, their contact info, grades, even possibly health information. One bay area man is leading a new effort to protect private information at school. But we begin tonight with the bathroom wars. This month begins a new law. It allows students to choose which bathroothey want to use at school. Some parents say its an imposition on their kids. Im a girl. I dont want a boy coming into my restroom. And i dont think most parents want the opposite gender in their childrens restrooms, locker rooms and showers. Now a group learned that their effort is still in limbo. A random sample proved that they dont have enough signatures. On kindergarten readiness. When low income children show up for kindergarten on the first day theyre about two years behind their peers when it comes to lapping wanguage development. Those repercussions can last a lifetime. President obama says he wants prereschool for a free preschool for all. They proposed this week a voluntary year of transitional kindergarten for all thats the key here for all of the states four year olds. The expanded program would be phased in starting 2015. Californias school chief is one of the sponsors of that bill. Its a simple choice. Invest in kids now and reap the rewards of a better educated and more Productive Work force in the state or pay the price later with more High School Dropouts and more young people dropping into trouble, gangs, drugs and jail. It would be two teachers per 20 students. Some 8,000 new teachers and 12,000 associate teachers would need to be hired. The saga at city college continues. City college is in the throes of a protracted battle to stay open. The school won a legal victory and can keep its accreditation for now. They must first determine whether an Accreditation Committee acted lawfully. The Commission Wants to revoke their accreditation because it says the school has not done enough to fix financial and educational problems. However, the judge said the consequences of the College Closing would be catastrophic. Nancy pelosi expressed support for the college and encouraged students to sign up for class. Where are those students . What is happening in their lives . What difference is it making to our Economic Growth and the success of people in our community . Theres never been a complaint about the education at the school. You may remember back in 2011 pelosi delivered the commencement address. Enrollment had dropped 23 since last spring. Is the Data Collected at your Childs School safe . Many schools outsource to companies to provide for the school. Well talk to the founder of Common Sense Media about that next. Ever wonder how many websites and software brouprogr your child uses at school. Experts are beginning to warn of a potential down side. They say the private information of your child could be at risk. Were talking about personal details like their name, contact information, academic performance and even perhaps their health status. Joining me is jim from common sense. Parents would be surprised to know that theres this web that knows all your information. You know it about yourself, but you dont think about your kids information being collected. There is a lot of Great Potential for Technology Used wisely and appropriately in the classroom. It can have a great, positive affect on education in this country, especially for school dil d districts that need new information. But we need to protect the private information and make sure its only used for their education. Are we talking about a site that i go on to see how my daughters doing . Is that at risk . Or are we talking about an app at school that collects their thing and theyre using it as a web format to share. Were talking about all of that. All of that internet and app stuff that might be on a tablet or even a computer or even on a phone. And because its really important to remember. Most of the apps are going to be used in the school or technology are to improve Educational Achievement and to assess how your child is performing and to see if they can do a better job in math or english or read organize science or whatever. However, that data is collected. The question is, can that data be used for noneducational purposes . Can they track your childs personal information . Or is it stored in a place . Is it in a place where people who shouldnt have access to it have access . Who has access to that information . Its like the wild, wild west. There are no clear laws. What we really need to do is set some clear rules that do three things. One, say that the information can only be used for strictly educational purposes. Number two. Not allow it to be tracked or targeted so dhe market to your kid some new abercrombie and fitch ad or Something Like that and that its secure, it could be health, behavior, all kinds of information that is nobodys business. Im going to go back through those with you individually. I think as a parent, i think that the School District should have a policy on who sees my kids information. But youre saying it dont . I wouldnt know that. I have four kids. We believe at Common Sense Media that Technology Used wisely is a good thing. But right now there arent clear privacy laws anywhere. This is the same thing that happened on the consumer side. You worry about those kids getting marketed on their facebook account or their Instagram Account and marketers sucking up their information. So in the school, right now, theres no clear statewide policy or local policy. In the vast majority of schools. Its all woefully inadequate. We need set one for all schools that makes sense. It puts the parent in charge of their childs personal data and it can only be used for Educational Achievement purposes and nothing else. Have there been cases of kids information being used . Sure. There was a study that came out in december of this past year, it was about School Districts all across the country. And what it said is theres no one policy. Nobody really realized this would happen. Technology hasnt been there for that long. You have Horror Stories about kids personal information being revealed or their health or behavior stuff coming out and parents get upset at that School District. So what we really need to do is set some really clear, simple policies. I know youve come up with a policy zone. You say students personal information should only be used for educational purposes. Isnt that kind of obvious. It is obvious. And thats what you and i as pa parents want. But if theres some independent i. T. Consultant setting it up and deciding what software or app goes in, they dont necessarily have any control. That brings us to the next one. Students information should not be used to target advertising. Thats what should be stopped. I would be shocked to find that out. It happened on the consumer side of the internet. You know, common sense has been a big advocate around privacy for children and teens. Weve been the leading Advocacy Group in the country. There are lots of firms here in Silicon Valley gobbling up information. They click accept on their phone. They just want to agree so they can get to the next thing. The schools havent really adopted this technology that widely yet. So theres a chance to put the rules in place to say only for educational purposes and no targeting for marketing purposes. I think youre going to see legislation this year that would set that in place. And schools and edtech providers shall adopt policies. Youve been reaching out to Tech Companies and saying hey, how can we reach a middle ground here where this is being used for kids and not for marketing purposes. Have of had success . Heres the deal. We know them at the highest level. Dont they lose money by doing that . Too bad. Our point to them is this. In school, its about education. Many of them are parents. We said look, this is about school. And its about achievement, about your kid and high kid. And these rules need to be for schools and educational purposes only. And truthfully, were going to win on this because were right. Its harder in the consumer aspect of this in terms of trying to limit what facebook or instagram can do with why ur kids information. Thats a much tougher thing. We had a bill that allows you to erase stuff. And that was common sense. Because they selfreveal before they selfreflect. All the tile. We all need to be selfreflective. We know that. So the deal in schools is, i think we have way more leverage over the companies, because they dont want to look bad and they know were talking about the right thing. What do i do as a parent to help mitt fwats their. My daughter told me the other day, oh, send it to me on my Gmail Account that i just got at school. And im like what . I didnt know you had an account. Why wasnt i informed that she was getting an account. You have to go to the principal and say what are the rules about data privacy here. And by the way, this is an important rule for parents and pta associations and anyone can go to common sense. Org. Were based near san francisco. You can reach us. You can come to us and we will give you all the questions you need to ask to your principal, to your School District for the basic rules for student privacy. Well help you do that. And districts will do that. But as a parent, you need to go to the principal of your kids school and say wait an inch in u minute, i didnt agree to a g mail account for my fifth grader. Now the school might have agreed to that in a package they were given. And they didnt think of that. Thats why we need to have some basic rules of the road. Im banking on you. I am banking on you. Im banking on you, though, this is what moms and dads have to say. And we at common sense will help make it happen. Thanks. We love having you here. Joining us today, up, coming up, more details on the new brown budget. The years of drought and cut backs and pink slips for the teachers, were finally able to provide a substantial amount of new money for all the schools in california. Education taking center stage with the governors new proposal. Well break it down for you next. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Yeah. Everybody knows that. Did you know there is an oldest trick in the book . What . Trick number one. Lookest over there. Ha ha. Madeest thou look. So endeth the trick. Hey. Yes. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you. Well, you know. California has a strong budget. It is a balanced budget. But it is by no means a budget free from liabilities. Things are looking up in the golden state. Governor brown outlining his bung et cetera proposal this week. And after years of declines, he says california is getting back on track. He released a prudent budget, one that includes stashing money in the states rainy day fund, but it earmarks 10 million for education. The years of pink slips for teachers, were finally able to provide new money for all the schools in california. Heres how it breaks down. Governor wants to raise spending by 725 per student and boost higher ed spending by 839 million. Money will be distributed to schools in an entirely new way. We first told you about their really farreaching overhaul of school funding. Were shifting politics in california from insiders in sacramento to local communities. And theres a responsibility not just for lawmakers in sacramento but parents and communities to get out to that school board and say youve got that state money. We want it here. And it deserves to be here. The state board of education is expected to host a heated meeting this week. They want to guarantee that the cash will be spent on struggling students but its at odds with those who want flexibility in spending the cash. The state has undertaken a massive effort to enhance and update standardized testing. We know the tests themselves will look quite different from what students have experienced in the past. The idea is to move away from pen and paper bubble tests to those called the common core. We dont have closure on what those are going to look like. Theres been a lot of back and thort wi forth with the feds. But california hasnt heard if it will get a waiver. Jerry brown wants to set aside about 46 million in his budget to help pay for the transition. Back in a moment. Welcome back. Wed like to revisit a story now that we first brought you back in september. Bay area researchers examined air quality in california classrooms and the resulting surprised even them. More than half of classrooms studied arent properly ventilated. Nothing has changed with the way kids breathe. The jungle gym is no match for this boy. But on the days that his asthma flares up, his mom worries about the simple act of sending him to class. Its stuffy in the classrooms. Which is concerning. If you have a child with asthma, thats where they spend the majority of their time instead ever home. Sitting in the classroom and you cant breathe, its just not good. She may be right. More than half of california crass rooms studied dont meet state ventilation standards. Lower ventilation rates were equated with more absences in sued entss. Indoor pollutants can build up. They should be diluted with outdoor air through developmentlation systems. But for some reasons, thats not always happening. Our best guess is that theyre being operated to save energy and money by bringing in less outdoor air through ventilation systems. It requires that the ventilation rate be 7. 1 liters per second per person. The median of those studied was 5. 1 liters. A bigger issue the portable buildings. They have a median estimated rate is 3. 1 liters. I cant educate an empty desk. Education association has fought for years better ventilation. It falls on the School District. If the School District is responsible for following the laws, they should follow the laws. The director for facilities for the san jose unified School District says the Study Results deents reflect whats happening in his district. The ventilation systems are receiving the maintenance by our maintenance department, but its basically at bare minimum. Chronic underfunding has left School Districts strapped for cash. They funnel as much money as they can for classroom education with little left over. I think it might mean visiting a unit three to four times a year. Or they visit when its broken. And its not a situation he sees turning around anytime soon. The systems are only going to become more dilapidated over time. A concern that has a lot of parents holding their breath. Im glad the situation is being brought to light now because something definitely needs to be done about it. If you have concerns about the air quality in your childs crass ro classroom, bring those up directly to your school. To those whove waited. Worried. Poked and prodded. Taken risks. And lived in a state of what if . Welcome to a new state. Of health. Welcome to covered california. The place to find quality, affordable coverage. Financial help for those in need. And nobody can be denied because of a preexisting condition. Enroll now at coveredca. Com. Hi, everyone, welcome to on the money. The mark else get off to a rocky start for the new year. A correction coming. What does the weak jobs number mean for your portfolio. Americas war on poverty. 50 years later. Who is paying the price. What should the government do . How far have we come . Dramatic new way to think about your health from a pioneering doctor. Hits surprising recommendations to live longer and better. On the money starts right now. A look at what is making news on the money. A disappointing jobs number. The economy created 74,000 new jobs in december. That was the smallest monthly gain in three years. Well