Why This $100 Million Student Information Database Is 'A Godsend' For Education Startups

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently led a $100 million investment into a controversial project that will collect and sell student information.

Startups and educators are excited. Parents, on the other hand, aren't so happy.

The foundation teamed up with the Carnegie Corp. and school officials from various states to create the new database, Stephanie Simon of Reuters reports.

The database, which is now operated by a non-profit organization called inBloom, went live about three months ago. It includes information like learning disabilities, test scores, attendance, student hobbies, social and career goals. It ties that information to individual students.

Local education officials will have all legal control over their students' information, and will be able to share that information with private companies selling educational products and services.

It's "a godsend for us," Jason Lange, CEO of education startup BloomBoard, told Reuters. "It allows us to collect more data faster, quicker and cheaper."

The goal of the project is to make it easier for other K-12 tech startups to launch, too. This is an area that's attracting a lot of startups and money, more than $425 million in venture capital, according to the NewSchools Venture Fund.

Until now, all of these startups had to reinvent the wheel, each creating their own student databases.

But while startups are very excited, many parents are concerned, Reuters reports. They fear that the database, which sometimes includes students' social security numbers, will be misused.