Florida's public education system, from pre-K through doctoral programs, is moving toward formal rules on how artificial intelligence can be used in classrooms and what parents must be told about it.
Two state bodies are advancing separate but related policies. The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state's 12 public universities, will review language next week requiring each campus to establish policies that include "a disclosure of faculty use and permitted student use of artificial intelligence" on course syllabi. The Florida Board of Education, which governs K-12 schools and the 28-college Florida College System, will vote Sept. 16 on whether to require public school districts and charter school boards to add AI provisions to their internet safety policies.
The K-12 rule would require districts to adopt policies by July 1, 2027, and would not need legislative approval, according to a draft copy of the rule obtained by the Florida Phoenix.
What the K-12 rule would require
The draft rule directs schools to protect "students, parents, and instructional personnel from unlawful, deceptive, unsafe, or unauthorized uses of artificial intelligence systems, services, applications, and tools used in connection with educational programs and operations in Florida public schools." It also says any approved AI use must protect education records and student information "while supporting student achievement, civic literacy, academic excellence, and workforce preparedness."
Schools would notify parents when teachers approve an AI instructional tool, including the name of the platform, the classes where it will be used, and how students will interact with it. Parents would get a process to object to AI use and request alternative tools. Districts must run additional reviews of AI tools used in PreK-5 to check age appropriateness.
The policy must also ensure AI "is limited to supplementing, and not replacing, the professional judgment of a teacher," and that AI tools are "accurate, transparent, viewpoint neutral, and accessible to students and educators with disabilities." Schools must make the list of approved AI tools public, and retain student interaction data for at least 30 days so parents and administrators can review it.
The draft rule explicitly blocks AI from being used to:
- Meet a student's social or emotional needs, including Social Emotional Learning.
- Simulate friendship, companionship, or an emotional relationship with a student.
- Use relationship-building or anthropomorphic design features meant to encourage a student to keep using the system.
Districts would have to train teachers and administrators on AI safety, risks, and compliance, and create policies addressing plagiarism, permissible classroom use, verifying student work, and demonstrating mastery without AI.
"Every parent and guardian wants their child to succeed in their public schools. In today's world, technology is a key part of what and how our students learn, and, like with all new technology, there must be rules and guidelines that center on protecting our children," said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state's teachers union.
He added: "At the Florida Education Association, we believe that any policy the state of Florida performs must provide that parents and guardians are advised of all potential uses of AI in a public school, that student data is protected, that the use of AI and new technologies is safe, that use of technology in the classroom is age and need appropriate, and that educators are protected and additional work is not placed on them without additional support."
Rules for the state college system
The Board of Education's docket includes separate AI rules for Florida's 28 public colleges.
Those rules would put the responsibility on each college's board of trustees to create AI policies that "provide for the use and control of use of artificial intelligence tools in order to ensure quality of education for students, efficiency of operations, and a safe learning environment for the whole college community."
As with the K-12 proposal, the college version distinguishes between instructional tools and other technologies. It prohibits colleges from using AI to "meet a student's social needs; simulate friendship, companionship, or an emotional relationship with a student; or employ relationship-building or anthropomorphic design features for the purpose of encouraging a disconnected student to resume interaction with the system."
Colleges would need rules protecting student privacy, notifying parents of minor students if a course involves AI, and accounting for academic integrity. The policy also calls for helping students understand what AI is, how it works in their classes, and for models to build AI skills.
Why this matters for education professionals
The two votes create a compliance deadline that is closer than it looks. School boards have until July 1, 2027, to adopt the AI policies - but the rule says they must also train teachers and staff, publish approved tool lists, set up parental objection procedures, adjust academic integrity rules in all grades, and finish classroom-level reviews of AI tools in elementary grades.
Education administrators at both districts and colleges should treat the next planning cycle as the window to inventory which AI tools are in use, identify which ones risk running afoul of the state's proposed ban on "emotional relationship" or "anthropomorphic" design features, and decide how syllabus disclosure need for university faculty will be put in practice before the Board of Governors' expected adoption.
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