Texas schools track students with radio waves, just like tracking cattle...

Two school districts in the Houston area have begun monitoring students whereabouts on campus by issuing them identification badges with radio frequency identification technology — the same technology used to track cattle.

The Spring school district in Houston has distributed the ID badges to about 13,500 of its 36,000 students since December 2008. The Santa Fe school district, about 30 miles south of Houston, began using the badges this year.

School officials say the devices improve security and increase attendance rates, a figure that's important because some school funding is tied to attendance. The Spring district uses the tracking system to find students counted absent by classroom teachers. More...

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