Nearly half of the 45 candidates running for Chicago's first fully elected school board have signed a pledge to ban artificial intelligence use by students and educators for three years. The push comes amid a national parent backlash against education technology, putting the future of AI tools in the nation's fourth-largest school district on the line.
The pledge, crafted by the parent advocacy group Illinois Families for Public Schools, also calls for eliminating screen time before third grade, limiting it in later grades, hiring a chief privacy officer, and banning the collection of student biometric data such as voice recordings from literacy software.
"The risks of AI are absolutely outweighing the benefits right now," said Cassie Creswell, the group's director. "It's perfectly possible to have a low-tech education and learn everything you need to know."
So far, 24 candidates have signed. Creswell said the nonprofit wanted to use the city's historic school board elections to lock in commitments, though she has also called on the current partly elected board to consider AI restrictions this fall.
A split over how to handle AI in classrooms
The local effort reflects growing national tension over education technology. Some candidates and education leaders argue an outright ban goes too far, stripping teachers of useful tools and failing to prepare students for a technology-saturated world.
Janice Jackson, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO who now leads the Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, said the pledge negates the district's core responsibility. "I think an outright ban is unproductive, and it really negates our responsibility, which is to come up with better solutions so our kids can both access this stuff, but also so that we don't do irreparable harm to them," she said.
Jackson acknowledged that many ed-tech products are "junk" and that data privacy concerns are real. But she pointed to teachers already using AI to plan lessons for diverse student needs. Failing to teach responsible use, she said, leaves Chicago students at a disadvantage compared with peers in better-resourced districts.
Chicago Public Schools said it remains "steadfast in its deliberate, responsible approach to artificial intelligence." The district noted that the Illinois State Board of Education's recently released AI guidelines reference CPS's own AI guidebook as a model. A group of high school students spent the summer designing a Student Voice AI Council and drafting a Student AI Playbook, the district said.
An early test case and national momentum
Creswell pointed to CPS shelving a plan to give high school students access to Gemini, Google's AI chatbot, as an early win. District officials said they briefly weighed the plan and nixed it last spring based on teacher input "to prioritize individual school readiness and educator training."
Board member Debby Pope, an appointee running to represent district 2b, signed the pledge. She worries AI could undermine students' ability to think creatively and identify misinformation. But she also expressed concern that an outright ban might prevent the district from teaching kids who already use the technology how it works and how to navigate its risks.
Ellen Rosenfeld, running unopposed in district 4b, did not sign. She shares many of the pledge's concerns but was uncomfortable committing to a sweeping, yearslong document. "I am concerned that on AI, we are building the plane while we're flying it," she said.
The Chicago push arrives as technology restrictions gain traction elsewhere. Earlier this year, Illinois adopted a new law restricting student cell phone use in schools. The Los Angeles school board passed a policy banning screen time before second grade. This week, New York City released a policy restricting student AI use in elementary and middle grades and setting screen time limits, though it stopped short of a full moratorium.
Why this matters for educators
The Chicago pledge and the broader national debate signal that AI use in classrooms will face increasing scrutiny from parents and policymakers. For teachers and administrators, the immediate takeaway is that decisions about adopting AI tools are no longer just about instructional value - they now carry political and community-relations weight. Educators who want to continue using AI-powered tools may need to build clear cases for how those tools improve learning outcomes while protecting student data. Those looking to develop practical skills for responsible classroom AI use can explore AI for Teachers Courses designed specifically for education professionals. The broader conversation about AI in Education continues to evolve as districts balance innovation with caution.
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