Massachusetts House to Vote on Under 14 Social Media Ban
The Massachusetts House will vote Wednesday on legislation that would ban social media for children 14 and under without parental consent and require age verification. The bill also mandates parental consent for 15‑year‑olds, allows unrestricted use after 16, and imposes school‑day cellphone bans. Implementation would be overseen by the Attorney General with regulations due by Sept 1, 2026 and an effective date of Oct 1, 2026. A $1 million allocation from a $1.8 billion spending bill will help districts enforce the bans.
Digital Promise, TNTP Partner to Develop AI Guidance for Schools
Digital Promise and TNTP have launched a three‑year, Salesforce‑funded partnership to develop evidence‑based AI guidance for U.S. school districts. The initiative aims to reach up to 15 million students by 2028, testing AI integration strategies that support teachers and align with...
Tenn. General Assembly Approves Screen Time Limits for K-5
Tennessee's House approved House Bill 2393, mandating K‑5 districts to prioritize teacher‑led, non‑digital instruction and ban student social‑media use during school hours. The bill, which passed 87‑6, includes exceptions for teachers, students with disabilities, virtual schools, and state‑required electronic testing....
Napa Valley Schools Emphasize Honesty, Ethics in AI Policy
Napa Valley Unified School District's board voted 5-1 to adopt a comprehensive artificial‑intelligence policy that stresses ethics, equity, and academic honesty. The ten‑principle framework, crafted by a 30‑member AI council, permits AI as a learning aid while prohibiting its use...
Learning Beyond Paper to Offer Digital, Bilingual After-School Courses
Learning Beyond Paper has launched Learning Beyond the Bell, a fully online, bilingual after‑school curriculum for K‑6 students. The program delivers project‑based, play‑centered lessons across six domains, including STEAM, literacy, and social‑emotional learning. Developed with input from after‑school directors, teachers...
Costs, Maintenance, 'Turtle Mode': NY School Leaders Question EV Buses
New York school districts that adopted electric buses report soaring costs and operational headaches as the state pushes a diesel‑to‑electric mandate by 2027 and a fully electrified fleet by 2035. The average EV bus costs more than twice a diesel...
Boston Public Schools to Launch AI Fluency Curriculum
Boston Public Schools will become the nation’s first district to embed an AI‑fluency curriculum across its high schools starting September. The program is funded by a $1 million donation from tech entrepreneur Paul English and built through a public‑private partnership with...
Students Turn to AI to Find the Right College, Major
High school students are increasingly turning to AI chatbots to navigate college and major selection, a trend driven by overloaded school counselors who serve an average of 372 students—well above the recommended 250. A 2025 EAB survey shows AI usage...
Can Federal Agents Tap School Surveillance Cameras?
School surveillance cameras are now ubiquitous, but recent investigations reveal that federal agencies may seek access to footage beyond school safety purposes. Under FERPA, only recordings tied to a specific incident are protected, leaving routine video vulnerable to external requests....
Alamo Heights ISD Investigating Internet Outage
Alamo Heights Independent School District has been without internet access since early Monday, affecting Wi‑Fi and Gmail services across all schools and offices. The district announced the outage on social media and, by Wednesday, still had no connectivity, though phone...
NYC Schools Prohibit AI for Grading, Discipline, IEPs
New York City public schools have released their first AI guidance, introducing a traffic‑light framework that permits AI for lesson planning and communications while prohibiting its use for grading, discipline, and individualized education plans. The policy replaces a three‑year blanket...
Houston ISD Superintendent Touts Importance of AI
Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles used his third State of the District address to spotlight the district’s AI‑focused transformation. He highlighted rising MAP scores, especially an 11‑point gain for Black and Hispanic students, and a jump to 197 schools earning...
Utah to Launch Statewide Career-Planning Platform
Utah is rolling out a statewide First Credential Career Mapping Tool built on YouScience’s Brightpath platform to satisfy House Bill 260, which requires high‑school graduates to earn a stackable credential. The dashboard offers aptitude assessments, connects students to the Admit Utah...
Tulsa Public Schools Proposal Seeks $105M for Technology
Tulsa Public Schools’ Proposition 3 seeks roughly $105 million from a $609 million bond to overhaul classroom technology, including $68.3 million to replace laptops and other devices. The district plans a five‑year refresh cycle, but inflation and tariffs have pushed costs up from the...
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Students Targeted by Phishing Scam
A phishing email promising fraudulent job opportunities was sent to students at Ardrey Kell High School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, requesting banking information. The district quickly removed the unauthorized message, secured the affected student accounts, and issued a Canvas...
AI-Powered Simulations Offer Practice for Teachers in Training
Schools and districts are adopting simulation‑based training tools to close the gap between theory and classroom practice. BranchED’s AuthenTECH Practice (ATP) platform leverages large language models to create realistic student interactions without requiring VR hardware. Early pilots, including a 2019...
Parents Ask Gov. Shapiro to Address Deepfakes in Schools
Parents of two Radnor High School students who were victimized by AI‑generated deepfake videos met with Governor Josh Shapiro and Attorney General Dave Sunday to demand statewide standards for school responses. The parents criticized the district’s dismissive handling and called...
Kansas Passes Bell-to-Bell Cellphone Ban for Schools
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed a bipartisan bill banning all personal electronic devices, including cellphones, tablets, and smartwatches, from the opening bell until the end of the school day. The law, effective this fall, requires K‑12 public and accredited private...
NSF Awards $11M to Expand AI Training for K-12 Teachers
The National Science Foundation has awarded $11 million to the Computer Science Teachers Association to launch a multistate professional development program that equips K‑12 teachers with foundational computer science and artificial intelligence skills. The two‑year initiative will roll out in six...
City Police to Monitor Albuquerque Schools via Surveillance Center
Albuquerque Public Schools will now have a full‑time police officer monitoring every campus from the city’s Real Time Crime Center, using live camera feeds, drones and gunshot detection technology. The move adds an immediate visual layer of security, allowing officers...
Sonoma Valley Schools Approve Specific Rules for AI Use
The Sonoma Valley Unified School District Board unanimously approved a comprehensive artificial‑intelligence policy that outlines expectations, guardrails, and nine guiding principles for students, staff, vendors and volunteers. The policy emphasizes ethical, transparent use, equitable access, and the need for security,...
Allentown Schools Dive Into AI With Chatbot, Summer Institute
Allentown School District has rolled out CourseMojo, an AI‑powered chatbot, to sixth‑grade language arts classes, funded by a $45,000 Digital Promise grant. The tool analyzes student answers against the district’s StudySync curriculum and delivers instant, criteria‑based feedback. Teachers can monitor...
California Agencies Share Data to Connect Students to Scholarships
California’s Cradle‑to‑Career (C2C) data system will now integrate with the CalKIDS savings program and community‑college records to flag students eligible for scholarship funds. The partnership identified roughly 40,000 community‑college enrollees with about $20 million in unclaimed CalKIDS awards. Authorized college staff...
Conn. Lawmakers Propose Easing Electric School Bus Deadlines
Connecticut lawmakers have introduced a bill that eases the state’s zero‑emission school‑bus deadlines, moving the 100% target to 90% by July 1 2040 and keeping an all‑alternative‑fuel requirement for July 1 2035. Distressed municipalities would need only 50% zero‑emission buses by 2035, reaching full...
How 'Edutainment' Is Changing Learning Behaviors
A new K12 survey of over 1,000 parents and teachers finds that YouTube, TikTok and similar creator‑driven platforms have become a major supplemental learning ecosystem, with 73% of respondents saying their children use these videos to review school topics. Students...
Wake County Schools Consider Speed Cameras
Wake County school board members are evaluating a proposal to install speed‑camera systems in school zones and on school‑bus stop‑arms. The initiative aims to deter dangerous driving and channel any resulting fines to the public‑school system, pending state‑law compliance. Legal...
Study Finds Most Common Ed-Tech Tools Not Backed by Evidence
A joint Instructure‑InnovateEDU analysis of 150 frequently used classroom technology tools found that most lack federally recognized evidence of impact. Only 40% of ed‑tech tools have any alignment with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) standards, and a mere 2%...
CYBER.ORG Offers New AI Modules for Parents, Caregivers
CYBER.ORG has introduced nine new AI education modules aimed at parents and caregivers, addressing a growing digital divide as AI becomes commonplace in K‑12 classrooms. The curriculum is tiered for ages 5‑8, middle school and high school, using familiar services...
New Jersey to Use AI to Score Standardized Writing Tests
New Jersey will deploy an artificial‑intelligence system to score most writing portions of its new adaptive statewide assessments for grades 3‑10 and high‑school juniors. The AI engine, trained on human‑scored practice tests, will automatically grade essays and short answers, flagging...
WV Superintendent Tells Congress States Need Flexibility on AI
West Virginia Superintendent Michele Blatt testified before the U.S. House Education Subcommittee, highlighting the state’s flexible, checklist‑style guidance for AI use in K‑12 classrooms. The guidance, first issued in January 2024, has already been revised twice to keep pace with...
Houston ISD to Convert Elementary Schools Into 'Future 2 Schools'
Houston Independent School District will convert Gregg Elementary and Clemente Martinez Elementary into “Future 2” schools focused on artificial intelligence starting next school year. The decision follows a board vote to close 12 schools because of declining enrollment, and Betsy Ross...
Q&A: Tech and Policy Intersect in Education Savings Accounts
Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are expanding as states seek flexible schooling options. Odyssey provides a digital‑wallet platform that processes applications, payments, and vendor vetting for ESA programs, now handling Texas’ $1 billion TEFA rollout—the largest in U.S. history. The system offers...
IT Vendor Payments Under Investigation at North Kansas City Schools
North Kansas City School District uncovered $630,000 in payments to an IT vendor that may have been for fictitious consulting services. The payments, $9,000 per month from fiscal 2020 through 2025, were approved by an employee who failed to disclose...
Boulder Valley Schools, Colo., Ban ChatGPT for Students
Boulder Valley School District blocked ChatGPT on all student devices and Wi‑Fi after safety concerns about group chats, multimedia generation, and inadequate age verification. The district is promoting MagicSchool AI, a teacher‑approved platform with built‑in guardrails. The ban received backing from...
FBI Raids LAUSD Superintendent's Home in AI-Related Probe
Los Angeles Unified School District launched the “Ed” AI chatbot in March 2024, a high‑profile effort led by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to place the district at the forefront of educational technology. The project hinged on a $6 million contract with Boston...
Wake County Schools Weigh 'Whistleblower' Exception to Phone Policy
North Carolina law requires students to keep phones off during instructional time, but Wake County Schools are debating a "whistleblower" exemption that would let students record incidents such as bullying. The proposal aims to balance the need for safety documentation...
Solar Company to Install Microgrid at Roanoke High Schools
Roanoke City Public Schools will install a solar‑powered microgrid with battery storage at Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools, funded by a $450,000 state grant and $2.1 million from Secure Solar Futures. The $2.55 million project, the first public‑school solar microgrid...
AI Empowers Cyber Criminals. Could It Also Help Schools Fight Them?
School districts are experimenting with generative and agentic AI to bolster cybersecurity, but results are mixed. While vendor‑built AI features provide more reliable insights than generic models, many districts still rely on traditional tools due to staffing and budget constraints....
FETC26: Modernizing Ed Tech in the Post-Pandemic Era
At the recent Future of Education Technology Conference, SETDA executive director Julia Fallon warned that the expiration of pandemic‑era emergency relief is forcing K‑12 districts to shift from crisis‑driven spending to sustainable ed‑tech modernization. She highlighted the need to rethink...
Florida Legislature Advances 'AI Bill of Rights' For K-12
Florida Senate advanced a sweeping AI Bill of Rights, adding education provisions that require schools to notify parents before granting AI tool access and to honor opt‑out requests. The bill defines "AI instructional tools" as a separate regulatory category and...
Remote Learning Still a Work in Progress at Buffalo Schools
Buffalo Schools are increasingly relying on remote‑learning days to meet New York’s 180‑day requirement amid severe winter weather and a compressed academic calendar. District officials cite safety, but teachers, parents, and students uniformly express frustration with the ad‑hoc approach. Device...
Campbell County Schools Pilot AI to Inform District Policy
Campbell County Public Schools is piloting the MagicSchool AI platform with four teachers and 15 students this spring to evaluate classroom integration. The system, currently limited to teachers, does not share data with external large language models and is used...
El Paso County, Colo., Expands Work-Based CTE Programs
El Paso County, Colorado is broadening work‑based career‑technical education (CTE) through new scholarship programs, expanded concurrent enrollment, and early‑college options. State‑backed Promise scholarships now cover tuition for low‑income students and specific tribal groups, while UCCS offers community‑college rates for concurrent...
EDSAFE AI Alliance Says AI Companions Necessitate New Policies
EDSAFE AI Alliance released the *S.A.F.E. By Design* report warning that AI companions—chatbots that simulate friendship and emotional support—are infiltrating K‑12 devices and blurring the line between educational tools and social entities. The report highlights how anthropomorphic design fuels addictive,...
