Dive Brief:
- New laws in Idaho, Maryland, Oklahoma and Virginia require state education departments to develop guidance for using artificial intelligence safely and responsibly in schools. Each statute also mandates that school boards adopt their own AI policies to align with their state’s guidance.
- In addition, Maryland’s law requires its districts to designate a coordinator to work with the state on their “productive and ethical use” of AI. And Oklahoma’s law prohibits AI tools from being primarily used for grading, discipline or other high-stakes educational decisions.
- With this legislative push, these states have moved beyond issuing AI guidance — as has been the practice in many states — to take concrete actions requiring schools to apply new standards in the classroom.
Dive Insight:
As of October 2025, 34 states and Puerto Rico had released AI guidance for schools, according to AI for Education, a group that supports districts in developing AI policies.
Still, some research indicates that districts aren’t doing enough to help teachers effectively use AI tools in their classrooms. For instance, a survey released in May by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation found that 82% of teachers have not received formal guidance on how to use AI in their jobs. K-12 technology experts have also called for more federal resources to support AI teacher training.
Ohio and Tennessee in the last few years enacted laws requiring their school districts to adopt AI policies, similar to the provisions that took effect recently in Idaho, Maryland, Oklahoma and Virginia. In Ohio, districts had to do so by July 1, while Tennessee’s deadline was at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
But while these states are requiring districts to establish AI policies, some K-12 leaders are facing calls for an AI moratorium — particularly for student-facing AI tools, as seen most recently in New York City Public Schools.
Oklahoma’s new AI law permits a parent or guardian to opt a student out of using AI tools in school, and the student cannot be academically penalized for doing so. School districts in the state are also required under the law to annually disclose to families all of the AI tools in use and the student data being collected by those tools.
Virginia's law, meanwhile, supports innovative uses of AI in schools through a new pilot program to fund, evaluate and scale AI for instruction, tutoring, student engagement, operational efficiency and teacher support.
Similarly, the Delaware Department of Education has developed an AI assurance lab that tests and evaluates AI tools for district use within state set parameters.
Maryland’s new law will require its education department to create a rubric to help school districts evaluate AI tools in use and provide professional development on AI for educators and school leaders. The legislation also establishes the Maryland AI Education Collaborative on Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education, which will study uses of AI in Maryland school districts and recommend a process for the state to regularly update content standards on how the tech is used.
