Everyone who uses student information has a responsibility to maintain students' privacy and the security of their data. Ensuring student data privacy is about so much more than complying with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). While privacy must be top of mind when thinking about collecting and using personally identifiable information, policymakers and educators owe it to students to also be thinking about how to use information to support them better. Statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) connect data from early childhood through K-12, postsecondary, and the workforce. In some states, these systems also connect education and workforce data to individual-level data from other state agencies, such as health and human services. Such sharing gives policymakers cross-sector insights that answer their pressing policy questions and help them direct resources more efficiently. Most important, SLDSs can help individuals and local leaders make more informed education and workforce decisions. In most states, there are coordinated processes for data-sharing agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs), but policy leaders are not driving them, and the public has little to no insight into them. The risk here is that such processes lack transparency and that no one is held accountable for results. Data governance is often mischaracterized as a technical project, when it is actually a series of policy-relevant, interdisciplinary, value-laden decisions that require buy-in and prioritization from high-level political leadership. State policy leaders across the country have a vested interest in having access to robust state data systems "and" in ensuring that any effort in the state that involves data be intentional and transparent about privacy and use. Once data governance has been codified into state law, state board members can charge the governing body with building trust in data by including representation from members of the public, being transparent about policies and practices, and demonstrating accountability for safeguarding data and using data ethically and responsibly.