Chips in ID Cards Will Track Students

A school district in San Antonio is joining the push to keep kids on an electronic leash of sorts: Northside Independent will implant chips into ID cards so school officials can track students, reports the San Antonio Express-News. The district approved the trial plan this week over the objections of some who raised privacy concerns.

“Parents expect that we always know where their children are, and this technology will help us do that," says a district spokesman. Counters a trustee: "I think this is overstepping our bounds and is inappropriate." School officials also have a financial motive: They say the move will result in more accurate attendance readings—if a kid is at the nurse's office, for instance, he'll still be counted—which in turn will beef up state aid. Two Houston-area districts already have a similar system running and have seen gains in state money. (More students stories.)