Illinois’ AI-in-schools bill could help the state catch up
Illinois could soon join roughly two dozen other states in issuing guidance on the use of artificial intelligence tools in classrooms.
Last week, Illinois state Rep. Laura Faver Dias introduced HB 2503, which would create a task force to develop guidance on the use of AI tools by students and teachers. It would also require school districts to report their uses of AI to the Illinois State Board of Education.
A former high school teacher, Dias said there’s a need for timely guidance given the rapid evolution and accessibility of AI.
“We know we are behind the ball here, and [we’re] trying to negotiate and work to come up with a realistic time frame,” Dias said in an interview. “What exactly it will look like is also still being negotiated with the State Board of Education.”
In 2023, California and Oregon became the first states to offer guidance to school districts on using AI in schools. Oregon provided districts with a checklist for developing generative AI policies. California created an informative resource kit with recommended guidelines for educators and schools.
Last year, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia also released guidance to help school district leaders navigate AI in K-12, according to a report from the educational technology nonprofit Digital Promise. The report also notes that at least 11 other states are in the process of developing guidance.
Bill Curtin, policy director at the education policy nonprofit Teach Plus Illinois, who helped author the bill, said Illinois’ lack of guidance on AI in schools doesn’t stop students from accessing or using the technology.
“Technology is always going to move faster than policy, and students are going to be immediate adopters of anything that seems exciting or new or useful to them,” Curtin said. “So when students started bringing AI into the classroom, policy was far behind, and teachers didn’t have guidance to rely on, either from their districts or from the state or anyone really.”
Curtin said he used findings from a 2024 report by the Illinois Digital Educators Alliance and a report published by the state’s AI task force last December, both of which urged the State Board of Education to work with high schools, community colleges and universities to “ensure young people, who are at higher risk of exposure to this technology,” have the proper guidance to navigate the use of AI.
“We really need the state to empower every teacher to be well informed,” Curtin said. “So the bill would ask the state to put together some guidance and also training for both teachers and students to help them understand and implement that guidance so that AI could be used in ways that it’s helpful for instruction, protect students safety and avoid it in ways that might be harmful.”
Dias and Curtin both said they’re hoping for legislative action by May 23, the deadline for the Assembly’s third reading of House bills, so that it can be implemented by July 1. They each noted, though, that the State Board of Education likely won’t issue guidance until the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
“I think it’s important that districts have something to hang their hat on before we launch into a new school year, so that they can update their policies and brief teachers on what they need to be looking for in the classroom or how they should be using it,” Curtin said. “We need enough lead time for that to happen.”
Dias said that while it’s important to address concerns about plagiarism and the ethical use of AI, the technology also offers creative-learning opportunities. She cited an Illinois teacher who testified during a recent committee hearing about students who’d used AI to modernize the language of a local poet’s work so they could better understand and connect with the poem.
“When people think about AI or any new technology, [they] always kind of focus on what could go wrong or how it could be nefariously used,” Dias explained. “This technology isn’t going away, and so how can we embrace what it can provide us?”
