The item was included in the most recent Ohio budget.
State Senator Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, and the chair of the Ohio Senate Education Committee, said he and many of his colleagues felt it was time that schools decided how they were going to use AI in the classroom.
“I personally use (AI), and I think that students and teachers both use it,” Brenner said. “It needs to be used ethically, and it needs to be used in a productive manner. Having a policy in place, along with creating a model policy, will help foster proper learning environments which are ethical and productive.”
A review of local school board policies around AI by this news outlet found many districts don’t have a policy around AI.
Districts that do have a policy included Franklin, Bellbrook, New Lebanon, Tipp City, Beavercreek, Xenia, Oakwood and Northmont.
The Ohio School Board Association, which represents public school districts across the state and offers pre-written board policies to its members, has a policy on AI for its members, said Kenna Haycox, OSBA deputy director of board and management services.
“As far as we can tell, there is no real trend of districts either adopting or not adopting an AI policy,” Haycox said. “School districts vary widely in their responses to AI and whether to integrate AI.”
Some districts have been using AI in classrooms. One Northmont High School teacher used AI as a research topic and said the project helped her students and herself understand the new tool better.
In February 2024, current U.S. Senator Jon Husted, who was then the lieutenant governor of Ohio, visited Northmont High School to announce a new toolkit for schools on AI.
“We want Ohio to be the dominant economic force in the Midwest,” Husted said at the time. “And to do that, we need talent.”
But Dayton Public Schools, which recently authorized the purchase of AI tools to use in the new alternative school at Jackson Center on Dayton’s West Side, does not have a policy on AI use, according to a spokeswoman for the district.
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