States Forge Ahead with Education AI Regulations Despite Opposition from Trump

In the previous legislative session, state lawmakers placed significant emphasis on AI in education, with over fifty bills introduced. Schools have promptly begun educating students about the latest AI advancements while safeguarding their privacy.

The landscape is poised for increased complexity, as the Trump administration aims to limit state regulations on AI. Meanwhile, advocates argue that states are eager to continue advancing AI applications in classrooms without slowing down.

The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) reported that 53 bills concerning AI in education were introduced across 21 states. These proposals ranged from enhancing AI literacy and formulating guidelines for AI use, including cyberbullying prevention, to outright bans on AI in specific scenarios.

While states are eager to forge ahead, the Trump administration seeks to decelerate their efforts with a December executive order calling for a halt on state AI restrictions. This order criticizes the fragmented nature of state regulations and urges Congress to establish a “minimally burdensome national standard.”

“It’s encouraging to witness so much legislative activity, and some of it even being enacted, despite the looming state moratorium,” remarked Christian Pinedo, vice president of external affairs and advocacy at the AI Education Project.

While states want to go full steam ahead, the Trump administration is looking to pump the brakes with an executive order in December attempting to impose a moratorium on states’ AI restrictions. It says state actions are creating a patchwork of regulations and calls on Congress to pass a “minimally burdensome national standard.” 

“I think it’s heartening to see that so much action is being proposed, and some … legislation actually was adopted, even while the state moratorium was kind of looming over state governments,” said Christian Pinedo, vice president of external affairs and advocacy at the AI Education Project.  

Advancing AI literacy was the most popular topic in state legislatures last year for AI education bills, according to the CDT report, with states seeking to have school districts institute professional development training for teachers and adopt AI education in K-12 schools, along with pushing for higher education institutions to create programs and majors in AI. 

New Mexico created an education study committee around AI, Nevada prohibited school mental health workers from using AI and Illinois moved to address cyberbullying and deepfakes with AI.  

Federal calls for states to slow down are so far going unheeded.

“We’re in the process of tracking basically what states are doing in this new session, and I will say they are going full steam ahead in trying to, again, put appropriate guardrails on the use of AI in education,” said Maddy Dwyer, policy analyst for equity in civic technology at the CDT and author of the 2025 legislative session report.  

“I’ve seen more bills from states that address transparency from Ed Tech vendors, which I think was sort of missing in the last session. So, legislatures are trying to put into place mandates for AI ED Tech vendors to submit documentation to schools about how they deal with student data, how they’re using student data to train their products or not,” Dwyer added. “In terms of the executive order … I think there’s some legal ambiguity. And states are definitely, at least on the education front, moving full steam ahead in the in the new session.” 

Schools have come a long way with AI, from many banning ChatGPT back in 2023 to now using it in classrooms. But schools still grapple with cheating issues, privacy concerns and exactly how AI should be taught as it integrates into the workforce.  

Last year, the Education Department released federal guidance for schools on how to approach AI, saying grants and funding will focus on AI-based instructional materials, AI-based tutoring and AI for career and college exploration.  

“Today’s guidance also emphasizes the importance of parent and teacher engagement in guiding the ethical use of AI and using it as a tool to support individualized learning and advancement. By teaching about AI and foundational computer science while integrating AI technology responsibly, we can strengthen our schools and lay the foundation for a stronger, more competitive economy,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said at the time.  

While states aren’t waiting around for federal guidance, neither are some educators; a Gallup poll last year found 60 percent of teachers used an AI tool for their work in the 2024-25 school year.  

At least 32 percent said they used AI weekly, with the majority of teachers saying the tools save them time, the poll said. The biggest uses of AI among educators were for creating worksheets or planning lessons and instructional material.  

“AI is an arrival technology and education leaders are seeing it in their classrooms already, so there is definitely a need to provide some guidance and rules, whether that is at the district level or at a broader state level, but these are complex tools that need to be implemented safely and responsibly, and in order to do that, educators are doing what they know how to do right and provide some guidance and guardrails for learners in their classrooms, and that’s going to be different in each school context,” said Pati Ruiz, director of learning technology research at Digital Promise.  

“And so, that is what educators, I believe, will continue doing until there is more state or federal-level guidance,” she added.