Ed-tech vendor under FERPA/COPPA

Context

A school district selects an AI vendor under FERPA and COPPA. Student-data privacy is non-negotiable, budgets are tight, and the district is wary of locking children's data into a proprietary platform it can't exit.

The decision

Weight privacy, low lock-in, and price and the open-source-backed option rises to the top — portability and exit cost matter more than the last capability point.

What most miss

Districts get sold the flashiest capability, but the binding constraints are data portability and exit cost — a proprietary lock-in on children's data is the real risk.

Stakes

Locking student data into an un-exitable platform is a privacy and political liability, not just a renewal problem.