It's no secret that regulatory compliance for K-12 education can be a bit complex. A school district in Alberta follows different standards from one in California, and both districts will have different requirements from one operating out of Ontario. There are common threads, though, with data sovereignty being one of them.
It's arguably also the most important — because it plays a key role in protecting student data and ensuring regulatory compliance.
At its most basic, data sovereignty is the idea that data is subject to the laws of the country in which it was created. These laws may or may not include data residency requirements establishing where and how data must be hosted. Data that's stored and processed in a different location from where it originated may be subject to the sovereignty requirements of both regions.
Typically, data sovereignty rules also establish the steps an organization should take to keep its data secure, private, and accessible. Depending on your jurisdiction, there may also be rules around data ownership. Here's where things get complicated.
Canada has two federal pieces of privacy legislation. The first, known as the Privacy Act, pertains to information collected by government agencies and institutions. The second, known as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), focuses largely on the private sector.
Per the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, neither act is applicable to public school districts, whilst private schools are advised to operate under the assumption that they must follow PIPEDA. Beyond that, data sovereignty is largely enforced on a provincial basis. In British Columbia and Nova Scotia, for example, school districts are explicitly required to store student information in Canada.
Data residency isn't the only thing school districts need to consider, either. PIPEDA mandates under its Accountability Principle that data cannot be transferred across the border without its owner's explicit consent. The problem is that K-12 students generally aren't of the age of majority.
Through technologies like the cloud, K-12 school districts have the potential to revolutionize how their students learn, embracing a new world of personalized hybrid learning. These technologies can also eliminate unnecessary busywork for teachers, allowing them to focus more of their time and energy on students. For students, meanwhile, digital technology lets them take ownership of their education, resulting in deeper engagement and better outcomes.
You cannot embrace these innovations without data sovereignty. Doing so would be a recipe for disaster, and not just because it would open you up to a whole host of regulatory penalties. You'd also be putting both your systems and data at risk.
See, while not always explicitly required, adhering to data sovereignty laws usually entails following cybersecurity best practices. It means you're taking foundational steps to protect your systems and data from bad actors. And these days, that's absolutely something you need to do.
Ransomware attacks targeting K-12 institutions are on the rise. Schools, even those that are underfunded, make attractive targets for financially-motivated criminals. Because system downtime directly correlates to learning loss, a district might be more likely to pay the ransom, to say nothing of the potential value of exfiltrated student records.
And as we already mentioned earlier, data sovereignty and data privacy almost always go hand-in-hand. Your district has a responsibility to keep students safe while they learn. Without proper safeguards and controls around accessing and storing student data, that responsibility becomes impossible to fulfill.
Lastly, let's talk about how your choice of vendor can make data sovereignty either simpler or more challenging.
Picture a private school district in British Columbia. Looking to embrace digital transformation, the district's administration has deployed a new cloud-based student management system. The vendor they've chosen is based in the United States — but because it maintains data centers in BC, that's not an issue.
Now imagine the vendor suddenly and arbitrarily opts to shut down its Canadian facilities and move all data they contain to the US. If the school district has advance warning of the data transfer, it'll need to scramble to find and deploy a replacement cloud solution. If the transfer happens without the district's knowledge, though?
That school district would be subject to regulatory penalties not just under provincial legislation, but also for non-consensually transferring student data under PIPEDA. Not exactly ideal either way.
At Sparkrock, we understand the role digital technology like ERP solutions and student information systems play in empowering both teachers and students. But more importantly, we understand the complex regulatory landscape facing many of our K-12 customers. And we know that, for many school districts, storing data within Canada is a requirement.
That's why we'll always remain committed to helping schools maintain security, data sovereignty, and data privacy — for their own sake as much as for the sake of their students. You'll never have to worry about your data being hosted outside its original jurisdiction. We'll make sure it's securely hosted right where it needs to be.
Thinking of moving to a new ERP vendor? Contact our sales team and we'll get you started.