Florida's education board has set new limits on artificial intelligence (AI) in public schools and state colleges. The Florida State Board of Education approved the rules on September 16, 2026, at a meeting at Polk State College in Winter Haven, the News Service of Florida reported.
The board acted after lawmakers failed to pass a similar law. CBS News reported that the state Senate tried this year to pass an AI Bill of Rights to limit how tech companies treat minors. It was one of Governor Ron DeSantis' top priorities. When it failed, DeSantis called a special session to try again. But House Speaker Daniel Perez said the issue belongs with the federal government, and he never brought the bill to a vote, CBS News reported. So the change came through state rules instead. Education Commissioner Henry Mack approved the proposed rules before the vote, CBS News reported.
For K-12 families, the biggest change is a new right to say no. Districts must tell parents when an AI tool is approved for use, the News Service of Florida reported. Parents must give consent before their child uses AI. If a parent says no, the district must offer a similar non-AI tool. Districts must add these guardrails to their internet safety policies by July 1, 2027, for the 2027-2028 school year.
The rules set other limits too. According to the News Service of Florida, any AI used in grades PreK-5 must go through an extra review first. AI tools cannot be used to meet a student's social or emotional needs. They cannot pretend to have a relationship with a student. They cannot use human-like features to keep a student interacting. Tools also cannot secretly track behavior, score students socially, or build psychological profiles. Teachers and administrators must be trained on AI risks. Students cannot use AI without supervision. School staff must be able to shut off a tool without help from the vendor. Districts must favor vendors that keep student data in the United States. Vendors cannot sell that data or use it to train commercial AI.
For the state's 28 Florida College System institutions, the rules require policies that stop students from using AI on graded work unless the instructor allows it, the News Service of Florida reported.
Mack called the rules a middle path. "We are neither going to one extreme, i.e. banning AI, nor are we going to the other extreme, which is unfettered access, so there's real value in what we're presenting today," he said.