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Missouri to stop collecting student Social Security numbers

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Missouri's education department says it's removing schoolchildren's Social Security numbers from a state database.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said in an audit report released Wednesday it will stop the practice by the end of June 2016.

The state audit report said collecting Social Security numbers for the student-level record system wasn't necessary and put children at risk in case of a data breach.

The report was the first released following Auditor Nicole Galloway's announcement that her office would make a point of reviewing data security.

Other recommendations in the report included adopting a formal response policy in case of a breach and eliminating shared accounts to access student data.

The agency in the report says it will follow those suggestions.

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