Educational software companies got excited by the possibilities.

But parents grew worried.

And now in the face of public protests around the country, state after state has backed away from plans to transfer confidential student information to inBloom, a newly created private nonprofit that could share the data with for-profit educational software developers.

As other states have pulled back, though, New York State has held fast. It is now the only state still all-in with inBloom.

The New York State Education Department has contracted for inBloom to store on an Amazon-run cloud database sensitive student information, including grades, test scores, disabilities and incarceration, suspension and attendance records.

State officials say that centralizing student data will allow individual educators, districts and the state to better target the needs of individual students and schools.

But the plan has spurred a lawsuit by parents, protests by privacy advocates and attempts by some school districts to keep their students’ data out of the inBloom system. The UFT is calling for the state to end its inBloom contract.

“The UFT is not opposed to gathering data on public school students; in fact, it’s a valuable tool,” said UFT Vice President Catalina Fortino in recent testimony before the state Assembly Education Committee. But the initiative with inBloom “is about releasing sensitive, student-identifying data points in 400 categories ... and, ultimately, share[ing] some or all of that information with private companies developing education software. How can we possibly countenance that?”

Although inBloom runs the database, its infrastructure was developed by Amplify Education, a division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp that is run by former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

For now, inBloom is providing its service without charge. By 2015, it might begin to charge for access to the data it has compiled.

More than 30 school districts around the state have asked to keep at least some of their students’ data out of the inBloom database. But their decision has come at a cost: Because the state is requiring all districts receiving Race to the Top funds to participate in the data project, these districts have had to return that portion of their federal funding.

In addition, a group of parents sued the State Education Department in November, claiming that the inBloom project violates the state’s Personal Privacy Protection Law, which prohibits state agencies from disclosing personal information to companies without consent.

“My son’s school records are essentially his medical records,” said Karen Sprowal, who is among the plaintiffs and whose child has special needs. “Right now, I get to decide who gets what information. Under inBloom, I have no idea who has his information and no control over who gets his information, how it’s used or where it’s used.”

The state so far is refusing to budge on its contract with inBloom. State Education Commissioner John King has said inBloom uses state-of-the-art encryption and takes other precautions to protect against any leaks of student data. He also said he is open to talking with the Legislature about increasing penalties for any security breaches of student data.