Updated, Thursday, with a copy of the new rules guiding disputes related to the state’s transgender athletics ban.
The Idaho State Board of Education on Wednesday approved a set of standards that will guide how K-12 public schools deal with artificial intelligence.
State lawmakers this year passed a law directing the Idaho Department of Education to develop an AI framework. IDE then convened a committee with dozens of educators and industry experts who wrote the framework.
The State Board OK’d the framework during its regular meeting Wednesday at Idaho State University.
The “Generative Artificial Intelligence in Education Framework” now goes to the Legislature for approval. If lawmakers sign off next session, the standards will take effect before the 2027-28 school year.
State superintendent Debbie Critchfield said Senate Bill 1227 was widely “misunderstood” as a mandate for schools to use AI in the classroom. Instead, the legislation called for guidelines and best practices for educators if they choose to use AI or they confront students using it.
“There’s nothing in it that compels anyone to utilize AI, at any level, for any content area, for any reason,” she said.
The framework includes recommendations for teacher training on AI, age-appropriate instruction that uses the technology and model policy language for school districts, among other things.
Click here to read the framework, which starts on page 39.
Critchfield added that she expects the document to change over time.
State legislators convened an AI working group that will continue meeting, and IDE appointed 14 teachers across the state as “AI tech innovators,” according to Scott Thunstrom, the department’s director of content and curriculum. “They are going to be our frontline defense … pulling feedback on what needs to be changing,” he said.
State Board approves rules on disputes related to transgender athletics ban
Also Wednesday, the State Board approved new rules that will guide disputes related to Idaho’s transgender athletics ban.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which prohibits transgender women and girls from joining female sports teams at schools, colleges and universities. After a six-year legal battle, the law is in effect.
The law includes a provision directing the State Board to create rules dealing with disputes related to athletic participation and biological sex. The rules are designed to ensure “disputes don’t languish any longer than absolutely necessary,” said State Board Executive Director Jennifer White.
White said the rules require the designation of an administrator who will receive notifications of disputes and a process for resolving them while protecting the privacy of parties involved.
The rules do not address athletic eligibility, White said. That will ultimately be handled at the institutional level.
“We wanted to be very thoughtful about the burden on students and administrators, and (we) have taken a great deal of time and care to ensure that we’re approaching this as narrowly as possible,” she said.
Click here to read the rules approved Wednesday.
