Education and Workforce Data Integration

Full Title:
Reimagining Education and Skills through Unified Longitudinal Talent Systems (RESULTS) Act of 2026

Summary#

This bill would update and expand a federal grant program to help states build or improve statewide longitudinal data systems. Those systems link individual-level data across early childhood, K–12, higher education, adult education, workforce training, and employment outcomes (including wage records). The bill emphasizes privacy protections, interoperable data formats, public access to aggregate data, and stronger data governance.

Key changes:

  • Replaces the existing grant language with a broader, competitive grant program for states to create, modernize, and use statewide longitudinal data systems.
  • Requires systems to connect education and workforce data (including unemployment wage records and WIOA-funded programs) and to allow disaggregation by race, income, disability, gender, and age.
  • Directs grant-funded work on governance (chief data/privacy roles), public dashboards and open datasets, secure portals for schools and providers, and use of standardized SOLID data formats.
  • Permits inclusion of additional data (health, juvenile justice, private schools, employer training) as determined by states, with stated privacy safeguards.
  • Amends a workforce law to allow use of the National Directory of New Hires for performance reporting and to require a designated state entity to run wage-record matches and protect privacy.

What it means for you#

  • State governments and agencies: Could apply for competitive grants to build or upgrade statewide data systems. Grants may fund staff, governance structures, privacy offices, and technical infrastructure.
  • Students and parents: The bill encourages secure student dashboards that parents and counselors could use to track progress and plan postsecondary or career paths (access would be through secure portals). The bill also requires privacy protections consistent with existing federal student privacy laws (FERPA and PPRA).
  • K–12 schools and districts: May get access to outcome data for their students through one-way secure portals. They may face new reporting or data-sharing requirements under state governance agreements.
  • Public postsecondary institutions and career training providers: Would be included in linked systems and could gain access to employment and earnings outcomes for students and program participants. The bill also encourages expanding data collection to include private postsecondary providers.
  • Workforce agencies and training providers: Would be asked to participate in data sharing, and a designated state entity would help match wage data to measure employment and earnings outcomes.
  • Researchers and community organizations: Could gain better access to de-identified or aggregate datasets and structured open data to study education and labor outcomes, subject to privacy rules.
  • Employers and economic development agencies: May be partners in improving labor-market data and could benefit from more detailed job and skills information.
  • Taxpayers: The federal government is authorized to fund the program, but the bill does not set a specific dollar amount.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

  • The bill authorizes “such sums as may be necessary” for grants, but it does not set a dollar amount or include a fiscal estimate.
  • Grants may fund state costs for technology, staff (e.g., chief data, privacy, evaluation officers), training, and governance activities while requiring 4-year maximum grant awards.
  • States may incur additional administrative and compliance costs to integrate systems, expand datasets, and run secure portals.
  • The bill requires post-grant reporting, which can create modest reporting costs for grantees.

Proponents' View#

  • The bill appears intended to create better, faster links between education and workforce data so policymakers and communities can make more informed decisions.
  • A possible argument for the bill is that centralized, modern data systems can reduce duplicate reporting and make federally required performance reporting easier to manage.
  • The bill could improve transparency by funding public dashboards and open aggregate datasets that show education-to-employment outcomes.
  • Funding governance roles and privacy capacity (chief data/privacy officers, legal expertise, training) is meant to strengthen data protection and responsible use.
  • Encouraging standard, open data formats (SOLID) and multistate collaboration could make data more comparable across states and support interstate research.

Opponents' View#

  • One concern is that linking more data types (health, juvenile justice, private-school records) increases privacy risks even if the bill calls for protections. The bill does not list every privacy limit or exact access rules.
  • The bill allows states discretion over included data and partners. This raises questions about who will be allowed to access identifiable or de-identified data and under what controls.
  • The cost and scope are unclear. Because no funding level is specified, it is uncertain how many states could participate or how extensive systems will become.
  • Building interoperable systems, training staff, and maintaining cybersecurity can be complex and costly for some states, potentially creating uneven results across states.
  • The bill encourages exploring artificial intelligence with these datasets. It does not set detailed limits on AI use, which could raise concerns about bias, transparency, or how AI-driven outputs would be governed.