The No Tech Criminalization in Education Coalition (NOTICE) and more than 40 other civil rights and education organizations sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) last month calling for a ban on Federal funding for school surveillance systems that rely on algorithms and other artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technology for predictive policing and other harmful practices.

The Labor Department (DoL) went public with its latest plans to modernize unemployment insurance (UI) programs that it operates with state government partners, and requested that Congress do its part by funding the plan.

Heather Abbott, who was named West Virginia’s CIO and head of its Office of Technology (OT) last summer, knows a thing or two about staying power.

Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, is teaming up with education technology company D2L to offer a free cybersecurity course for K-12 school system and technology leaders. The goal of the course is to help school leaders better understand cyber threats and identify key mitigation and prevention steps.

Security analysts in the education sector must contend with evolving cybersecurity threats despite limited resources. MeriTalk recently sat down with Helen Patton, cybersecurity executive advisor for education at Cisco, to discuss how an open, collaborative approach to threat detection and response can help streamline processes for overburdened security teams.

The city of San Jose, Calif., has established the GovAI Coalition to help shape the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in government. The city said it welcomes state, local, and other municipal government agencies to join the coalition.

The Department of Energy’s (DoE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) has announced $15 million in funding to establish six university-based electric power cybersecurity centers that will foster collaboration across the energy sector to address gaps in energy security research and provide cybersecurity education programs. 

The U.S. Department of Education, in coordination with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), officially launched the Government Coordinating Council (GCC) for the Education Facilities Subsector on March 28 to better support K-12 cybersecurity efforts.

Connecticut is using $41 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act Capital Project Fund to expand broadband infrastructure and improve internet connectivity in the state.

As more states are prioritizing the role of data privacy, the state chief privacy officer (CPO) role is continuing to grow in importance, according to a recent report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO).