As the mother of two young daughters, I want to safeguard the values that make our nation great for the next generation. The recent acquisition of Tutor.com by the Chinese private equity firm Primavera Capital Group undermines those cherished values.

This development gives me significant pause as a parent who understands that children sometimes need additional academic support outside the classroom. Users of Tutor.com, including countless vulnerable students, will now be required to relinquish their privacy rights, exposing them to a “TikTok-level privacy and security risk.” 

This is especially concerning given that over the past two years, public school districts have poured more than $30 million into Tutor.com and its affiliate, Princeton Review. This financial investment provides the Chinese-owned company unprecedented access to the personal information of millions of students and families across the nation. Lawmakers such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) have rightly raised concerns about the implications of this data access.

Tutor.com’s “Terms of Use” leave no room for ambiguity — the company claims ownership of all data collected on its platform, including that generated by underage students. Those terms grant Tutor.com the alarming authority to capture and transfer the data of U.S. students without any limitations.

Several states, including Virginia, California, Washington, and West Virginia, have partnered with Tutor.com, inadvertently exposing their residents to significant privacy risks. The U.S. government’s belief that entities operating in China can be coerced into sharing information with Beijing adds another layer of concern.

In my home state, Virginia, at least 12 school districts, including some of the largest, have recently used Tutor.com, spending more than $8 million on the service over several years. While the Virginia Department of Education tutoring playbook does not have a specific list of approved vendors for its ALL In Tutoring program, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), given his positions on China, may want the agency to provide updated guidance.

The U.S. Department of Education should also take decisive action promptly to issue guidance warning school districts about the inherent risks of partnering with Chinese-owned education providers such as Tutor.com. This would empower local education authorities to make informed decisions that prioritize the safety of our classrooms.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education should ban the use of state funds for Chinese-owned products and services in educational settings. This proactive measure would prevent taxpayer dollars from indirectly supporting entities that compromise the privacy and security of U.S. citizens.

As a parent, I understand that many young students might need extra help in their studies, particularly after the harmful effects of rampant lockdowns during the pandemic. But the last place our nation’s children should go for assistance should be to a company now run by a regime that, at minimum, worsened COVID’s impact by lying to the rest of the world during the pandemic’s first months and still refuses to cooperate with independent investigations into the virus origins.

For that reason and many others, school districts and states should prioritize the security and privacy of our youth by swiftly addressing the threats posed by Chinese-owned Tutor.com. Together, we can ensure a safe and secure educational environment for every student.

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This article was published by the Independent Women’s Forum and is reproduced with permission.

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