Youth-led AI policy advocacy
The New AI Rules for Schools
Florida now requires every district and charter school to adopt an AI policy by July 1, 2027.
New York just passed a law on AI chatbots and kids, and the federal government is funding AI literacy. Here is what each rule asks of schools, in plain language, and where our free AI literacy curriculum fits.
We're students. We teach AI literacy, we draft AI policy schools can adopt, and we speak up for rules that work for the students who have to live with them.
Florida deadline
228
days until July 1, 2027
Rule 6A-1.0957 took effect October 29, 2026. Districts and charter boards must have their AI policy adopted and in use by the deadline.
What schools are dealing with
82%
of teachers have no formal guidance on using AI in their work
Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, spring 2026, via Education Week54%
of U.S. teens use AI chatbots for schoolwork
Pew Research Center, February 2026, via GovTech1 in 3
9th graders at FAU High School say they use AI companions, and 78.5% say parents never raised it
Dr. Amy Tift, FAU Lab Schools teacher research, fall 2025 (about 60 students)1 in 3
teachers who got AI training had just one session, often basic
Education Week Research Center, fall 2025
The free Florida AI policy toolkit
Eight printable guides for the things teachers and administrators keep asking for: a model policy, what to do when a detector flags a student, clear AI levels for every assignment, and letters for families. Copy them, edit them, and share them. Free, no account needed.Built for Florida schools and Rule 6A-1.0957. Toolkits for other states are coming soon.
Made by a student-run nonprofit. Researched in partnership with A.D. Henderson University School & FAU High School (FAU Lab Schools)
For administrators · 31 pages
Florida AI Compliance Kit (draft for legal review)
Everything Rule 6A-1.0957 asks for by July 1, 2027: a board policy with a clause for each requirement, the procedure, timeline, vendor review, tools registry, parent opt-in and log, staff training, incident and review logs, family letters, annual review, and a crosswalk. Have your board attorney review it before adoption.
Download PDFFor administrators · 4 pages
AI Policy Starter Kit
A model AI policy with fill-in blanks, plus a line-by-line checklist for Florida Rule 6A-1.0957.
Download PDFFor teachers · 4 pages
When You Suspect AI Misuse
A fair five-step process, a conversation script and a documentation form for when a detector flags a student. Evidence, not scores.
Download PDFFor teachers · 5 pages
Classroom AI Use Levels
Four levels from AI-free to AI partner, paste-in syllabus statements, assignment labels, and a classroom poster.
Download PDFFor teachers · 3 pages
Assignment Redesign Menu
Small changes that make student thinking visible: checkpoints, local sources, and using AI on purpose.
Download PDFFor students · 3 pages
Using and Citing AI
What's allowed, MLA and APA citations for AI, privacy rules, and an AI use disclosure form.
Download PDFFor families · 3 pages
Parent Notice and AI Opt-In
A ready-to-send letter and opt-in form that follow Florida's parent-notice rule, plus a guide to talking with teens about AI.
Download PDFFor administrators · 3 pages
AI Tool Review Checklist
Privacy, safety, and learning questions to answer before any AI tool reaches students.
Download PDF
The integrity language builds on the FAU Lab Schools Technology Policy & Guidelines and Code of Student Conduct. The classroom levels build on the AI Assessment Scale by Perkins, Furze, Roe and MacVaugh.
Florida: Rule 6A-1.0957
On September 16, 2026, the Florida State Board of Education amended its internet safety rule to cover AI tools that students use. The rule took effect October 29, 2026. By July 1, 2027, every school district and charter school governing board must adopt and implement an AI amendment to its internet safety policy. A companion rule, 6A-14.0719, sets AI policies for the 28 Florida College System institutions.
What every district and charter policy must do
- 1
Tell parents in plain language when an AI instructional tool is approved: the tool, the grades and subjects, how students interact with it, and how to object. [(3)(e)1]
- 2
If students will use the tool directly, parents get the option to opt their child in, plus information on a non-AI alternative that is substantively comparable in instructional quality and access. [(3)(e)1.e]
Where we help: Our lessons are not an AI tool. Students learn about AI without an AI account, and every lesson has a paper-only activity pack that runs a full class period.
- 3
Academic integrity: address plagiarism, permitted classroom use, verifying student-authored work, drafts, student reflection on AI use, and showing mastery without AI. [(3)(e)9]
Where we help: Lessons 5 and 8 (Plagiarism and Copyright, Cheating) teach exactly this, with discussion scenarios, worksheets, and answer keys.
- 4
Train teachers and administrators on AI risks, limitations, safety, and their legal obligations. [(3)(e)11]
Where we help: Every lesson comes with a teacher guide written for teachers with no AI background. The lessons double as staff training on what AI can and can't do.
- 5
AI supplements teachers and never replaces their judgment or parents' rights. AI never makes a decision without human review, including grading, discipline, and referrals. [(3)(e)4, 10]
Where we help: In our gradebook, every grade on a written answer is set by the teacher.
- 6
Tools must not sell, monetize, profile, or commercially exploit student data to train commercial AI models. Prefer vendors that store and process data in the U.S. [(3)(e)17]
Where we help: We never sell data and never use identifiable student data to train AI. We sign the SDPC National Data Privacy Agreement before any student is added.
- 7
No undisclosed behavior monitoring, social scoring, or psychological profiling of students. [(3)(e)8]
- 8
No AI designed to meet students' social or emotional needs, to simulate friendship or a relationship, or to use human-like features to keep students engaged. [(3)(f)]
Where we help: Lesson 4 (Sycophancy) teaches students why chatbots flatter and agree with them, and why that is a design choice.
- 9
Agentic AI only under direct adult supervision, with a full activity log and an off switch school staff can use without the vendor. [(3)(e)3]
- 10
Extra review of tools for VPK through grade 5 for age and developmental fit. [(3)(e)2]
- 11
Tools keep records of student interactions for at least 30 days so parents can see them. [(3)(e)14]
- 12
Review whether each tool improves student outcomes, and require vendors to disclose known limits and any independent studies. [(3)(e)12]
- 13
Publish a list of approved AI tools for parents, report every tool to the Department of Education, and disclose any security incident or unexpected autonomous behavior. [(3)(e)13, 15, 18]
Florida College System: Rule 6A-14.0719
Rule 6A-14.0719 requires each Florida College System institution to set policies on when students, faculty, and staff may use AI, bar AI on graded work unless the instructor allows it, list approved tools, protect student privacy and intellectual property, notify parents when an enrolled minor will use an AI tool, and adopt an AI literacy framework tied to education and careers.
Florida standards our lessons teach
Florida has no law yet that requires AI instruction (HB 1503 died in March 2026), but its 2025-26 Computer Science standards already name AI, generative AI, deepfakes, and AI chat use. Here is where each one is taught.
| Standard | What it asks | Our lessons |
|---|---|---|
| SC.912.ET.2.2 | Describe the major branches of AI, including machine learning and generative AI. | 1. What is AI?2. How AI Works |
| SC.912.ET.2.5 | Describe major applications of AI and machine learning. | 9. Practical Tools and Uses10. Looking Ahead |
| SC.912.TI.2.1 | How technology can distort or misrepresent information, with emphasis on misinformation including deepfakes. | 3. Deepfakes |
| SC.912.CO.1.9 | Evaluate the accuracy, relevance, and bias of electronic information. | 3. Deepfakes4. Sycophancy |
| SC.912.TI.2.6 | Impacts of irresponsible use of information, including plagiarism and AI chat usage. | 8. Cheating5. Plagiarism and Copyright |
| SC.912.TI.2.8 | Consequences of misrepresenting digital work as your own: plagiarism, infringement, digital theft. | 5. Plagiarism and Copyright6. Art and Creativity8. Cheating |
| SC.912.TI.2.11 | Use citation tools with digital information. | 5. Plagiarism and Copyright |
| SC.912.HS.1.5 | Evaluate the risks to personal information online. | 7. Data Privacy |
| ELA.9.R.2.4 | Compare two opposing arguments, evaluating the validity of the claims. | 4. Sycophancy6. Art and Creativity10. Looking Ahead |
| ELA.K12.EE.1.1 | Cite evidence to explain and justify reasoning. | All 10 |
Lessons 3, 4, and 7 also support the social media and internet safety instruction Florida requires in grades 6-12 (s. 1003.42, F.S.). They add to it; they do not replace it. Florida Computer Science standards
New York
State law: AI companion chatbots and minors
Governor Hochul signed S9051-B / A10379-C on October 28, 2026. Starting January 1, 2027, it bars unsafe companion-style features for users under 18, such as a chatbot claiming to be human or to have emotions, flattering a child to keep them talking, or encouraging self-harm. It covers AI that holds ongoing, adaptive conversations with people in New York, and requires age assurance. Fines run up to $25,000 per violation.
NYC Public Schools: one-year AI pause, required AI literacy in high school
For 2026-27, New York City paused student-facing generative AI in grades 2-K through 8. High school students must complete two 45-minute AI literacy modules covering how AI works, data privacy, bias, and appropriate use in school. Teachers may still use approved AI for planning.
Pending: an AI literacy curriculum for every grade
S7892-A / A7029 would have the Commissioner recommend AI literacy for elementary, middle, and high school in five areas: basic concepts, critically evaluating AI output, practical uses and limits, ethical and societal impact, and safe interaction. Both bills are in the Education committees.
We follow AI bills for schools as they move, because the students they affect should have a say in them.
Federal
Executive Order 14277: AI education for American youth
Signed April 23, 2025. It created a White House Task Force on AI Education, the Presidential AI Challenge for students, and directed agencies to build K-12 AI literacy resources and prioritize AI in teacher training grants.
U.S. Department of Education: AI is now a grant priority
A final rule issued April 13, 2026 lets the Department give priority in discretionary grant competitions to projects that build AI literacy, including its ethics and societal impact, and train educators. Its July 2025 guidance says existing federal funds can support responsible AI use. The Department left privacy and vendor decisions to states and districts.
Executive Order 14365: national AI framework
Signed December 11, 2025. It pushes back on state AI laws, but its proposal to Congress excludes state laws on child safety.
Writing a federal grant? Our free curriculum covers AI literacy, ethics, and educator support, the areas the Department of Education now prioritizes. Tell us about your project.
The five areas of AI literacy
New York's pending AI literacy bill names five areas every student should learn. They match what Florida asks schools to address and NYC's required high school modules. Here is where each one is taught in our 10 free lessons.
- Basic AI concepts
- Lesson 1: What is AI?Lesson 2: How AI Works
- Critically evaluating AI output
- Lesson 3: DeepfakesLesson 4: Sycophancy
- Practical uses and limits
- Lesson 9: Practical Tools and Uses
- Ethical and societal impact
- Lesson 5: Plagiarism and CopyrightLesson 6: Art and CreativityLesson 10: Looking Ahead
- Safe interaction (privacy, integrity)
- Lesson 7: Data PrivacyLesson 8: Cheating
For districts and teachers
Teach the AI literacy your policy calls for, free
10 lessons, one class period each, with lesson plans, worksheets, answer keys, and paper-only activity packs. No student AI accounts needed. We sign a Data Privacy Agreement before any student is added.
Students who want a voice in their school's AI policy can start an Ethics Lab chapter.
Last checked November 9, 2026 by The Ethics Lab, a youth-led AI literacy and advocacy nonprofit. This page summarizes public rules and reporting for educators. It is not legal advice, and rules change. Check the official text and your district's counsel before adopting a policy. Spot something out of date? Email anik@ethicslabs.ai.