Guides

In its June lawsuit against OpenAI, the state moved for a temporary injunction that would, pending trial, stop the company from offering ChatGPT to minors in Florida and from collecting data from children under 13 without notice and verifiable parental consent, among other relief. The motion targets the consumer product, not school-licensed tools, and the court has not ruled.

Notebooks in the Gemini app, which hold up to ten sources and the conversations about them, began reaching students of all ages on September 14, on by default wherever an administrator already has Gemini turned on. It follows the August 10 change that opened the Gemini tab in Google Classroom to students of every age on the same terms. A district that has Gemini switched off for students is unaffected either way, and one that has it on now has both.

Districts and charters would have to amend their internet safety policies by July 1, 2027. Parents must opt a child in before an AI instructional tool is used, and a comparable non-AI alternative is the default for anyone who does not. Tools for Voluntary Prekindergarten through grade 5 face added review, and AI built to meet a student's social or emotional needs is barred. The rule was approved with changes and has not yet been filed as final.

AB 1159, signed September 10, amends the state's K-12 and early-learning student privacy acts so that an operator may not use covered information, including persistent unique identifiers, to train a generative AI system or develop an AI system. It also extends coverage to services designed or marketed for school purposes and to companies working on an operator's behalf, and it lets a pupil harmed by a violation sue. A companion act for higher education takes effect July 1, 2027.

The National AI Safety and Privacy Standard, negotiated with the American Federation of Teachers and its New York City affiliate, says student and educator data will not be used to train AI models, sold or repurposed, that AI will not make decisions without human oversight, and that companies must give families plain-language information about how their tools work. A district can write the protections into its Microsoft customer agreement, which is what makes them enforceable. Microsoft says it will extend the agreement to every district in the country.

A one-year moratorium covers roughly 600,000 students from 2-K through grade 8, with carve-outs for assistive technology, multilingual learners and career programs. High school access is five supervised pilots reaching about five percent of high schoolers, not general availability. Companion chatbots are barred in every grade. Staff may use AI for planning and administration, but not for grading, behavior monitoring, or placement, promotion and graduation decisions.

The second-largest district in the country blocked generative AI on district-issued Chromebooks and tablets in every grade for 2026-27, affecting about 378,000 students in district-operated schools. Earlier policy had allowed supervised access from age thirteen. The change was made administratively rather than by board vote, and an ad hoc committee reports recommendations at the end of the school year.

Rule R277-334 would require every district and charter to adopt a classroom technology and AI policy before July 1, 2027, with the state board's model policy applying by default to any that does not. Students could not use generative AI for academic work unless an educator authorizes it for a specific instructional purpose, educators could not use it to grade work on its own, and what the rule calls high-risk AI interaction could not be used with students. The earliest the rule can take effect is October 8, 2026, and a first draft of the model policy is already posted.

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education released its first model policy on staff use of AI, offered as guidance that each local education agency may adapt or set aside. It sorts uses into three tiers. Surveillance of students and staff, discipline decisions, teacher evaluations, and eligibility for IEPs or Section 504 plans are off limits. Drafting IEP language and grading student work are allowed with safeguards, and lesson planning and school communications are allowed with a person reviewing. A February survey found 45 percent of the city's local education agencies had a staff AI policy.

US schools and districts can put staff into one centrally managed organization under a single set of K-12 terms, with single sign-on, role-based access and domain claiming. Qualifying organizations that sign up by June 30, 2027 get a full year of free access.

Fifty-five more school systems across twenty states add over 100,000 educators and staff, bringing OpenAI to more than 100 K-12 organizations in thirty states covering over 300,000 educators and staff. The company also announced a sixteen-state data privacy agreement through the Student Data Privacy Consortium. Accounts are for educators and staff, not students, and OpenAI says the tool stays free for verified US K-12 educators through June 2028.

The state budget act requires the governing body of every public school unit to adopt an AI policy by June 30, 2027, after the education department develops a model by December 31, 2026 and makes it available by January 15, 2027. Teachers in districts, charters and lab schools must finish ten hours of state AI training by June 30, 2028.