AI in Texas schools: What limits and rules exist?

An Austin private school made national headlines last year for its fully artificial intelligence-powered learning model. Officials with the Alpha School have said the school uses AI to condense a day's learning into two hours and boasted "personalized learning, done by lunch."

But AI in education has been a growing movement across the state, not just in select private schools.

The Houston Independent School District announced it will launch nine AI-focused schools next year. Superintendent Mike Miles said he envisions 100 HISD campuses with AI-focused programming in the future.

With a vast tech industry and a $500 billion investment in Abilene data centers, the state has become a global leader in AI. Even the Texas Education Agency uses AI to grade standardized tests. TEA began releasing spring scores from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exams last week.

However, TEA has offered limited guidance to school districts on how to implement AI education, leaving many decisions up to the school systems themselves. San Antonio educators have reported data privacy concerns and said their experiences with AI made their jobs easier.

Are there any limits on AI in Texas schools?

Last year, Texas began broadly implementing AI guardrails.

Lawmakers passed House Bill 149, a law that outlines broad requirements for AI developers and deployers. Among other provisions, the law limits the development of AI programs that intentionally discriminate against protected classes of people and requires government transparency when using the technology.

Another new law, House Bill 3512, requires state and local government employees, including designated school district staff, to complete AI training courses.

But there are no technology guardrails specific to education, and skeptics in both parties have expressed concerns over how AI will be used in Texas public schools.

Have lawmakers proposed limits on AI in schools?

Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, filed a bill in the last legislative session that would prohibit public educators - at both school districts and charters - from using AI to provide instruction to students. While the bill never made it out of its Senate committee, conversations among legislators have continued.

During a recent Texas House Public Education Committee hearing, Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said Texas needs AI protections sooner rather than later to safeguard children in schools.

Middleton is a Republican candidate in the Texas Attorney General race, and Hinojosa is a Democrat running against Gov. Greg Abbott this year.

Renzo Soto, the deputy director for education and workforce policy for Texas 2036, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, presented before the House education committee in May. He said districts are still working to understand AI requirements included in new laws, because the existing AI frameworks are so broad.

Resources to navigate these requirements and translate them to the classroom are also lacking, he explained. Other states have already fleshed out this "translation," he said, and his team believes interpreting AI limits is the next step for Texas as educators work to safely and effectively use the new technology.

"We've seen how this technology can be transformative in a lot of other industries, but in the context of our classrooms, and in relation to the learning of our students, it is definitely more sensitive," he said. "We have to be protective of our students and make sure that not only is this beneficial to their learning in the long term, but that it is safe, that it's secure and that the adults around them are teaching them to responsibly engage with it."

AI technology has the ability to advance students' learning, but Soto recommended new policies that help districts sort through available products to understand which will be most effective. A guide to AI tools and how to implement them would remove unknowns for district administrators, who are not usually experts in AI.

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This would also help districts respond quickly to the rapidly changing technology landscape and maintain their cybersecurity.

Legislators should also consider mandating training to help students better understand how to use AI responsibly, Soto said.

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