Florida’s new AI rule gives school leaders a deadline and a long checklist. The deadline is July 1, 2027, and the checklist starts now.
Rule 6A-1.0957 amends Florida’s Internet Safety Policy rule. It took effect October 29. District school boards and charter school governing boards must adopt AI-specific policy amendments by the July date.
That covers the school boards and charter schools of Miami-Dade, along with every other Florida district.
Leonard J. Dietzen III laid out what the rule asks in District Administration. His central warning is that approving an AI tool is only the beginning.
Annual policy review and approval by September 1 also remain required. Dietzen says the rule offers a useful framework even outside Florida.
Which Tools Count
The rule defines an AI instructional tool narrowly. It covers applications that use generative or agentic AI and are made available to students for educational purposes.
It excludes AI systems that do not interact with students. It also excludes systems used to analyze, classify, predict, detect or optimize decisions from existing data.
Dietzen says leaders should review what a tool actually does. A single platform can combine covered and excluded functions.
He also notes the July date is not a blanket delay. Some prohibitions apply as soon as the rule takes effect.
Parents and Staff Keep Control
Parents must receive plain-language notice when a tool is approved. The notice names the tool, the grades and subjects, and how students will interact with it.
When students use a tool directly, parents must be able to opt in. They must also be told about a comparable non-AI alternative.
That alternative takes planning, Dietzen writes. If an AI function is central to a lesson, teachers may need different materials or assignments.
Agentic AI can pursue goals and take multi-step actions with minimal oversight. Covered tools that use it need direct adult supervision and complete activity logs.
School staff must also be able to suspend the autonomous functions immediately. They cannot depend on the vendor to do it.
Dietzen advises districts to ask vendors to demonstrate those controls. A promise that support can step in is not the same thing.
AI also cannot serve as a decision-maker without human review. The rule lists grading, discipline, threat assessments, counseling referrals and Exceptional Student Education referrals.
Protections That Outlast the Policy
The rule bars tools designed to meet students’ social or emotional needs. It also bars tools that simulate companionship or emotional relationships.
That ban touches a live Florida debate. MAIN has covered how teens lean on AI for mental health and how Florida tried to act.
Undisclosed behavior monitoring, social scoring and psychological profiling are also prohibited. Districts must prioritize vendors that store and process student data in the United States.
Tools for voluntary prekindergarten through fifth grade get extra review for age and developmental fit.
Compliance does not end with a policy. Districts must keep a public list of approved tools and retain student interaction records for at least 30 days.
They must report tool-use information to the Florida Department of Education. They must also disclose unexpected autonomous behavior and security incidents caused by approved tools.
Staff need training on AI risks and limits. Dietzen suggests starting with an implementation team, a software inventory and a realistic budget.
Florida has been tightening AI rules from several directions. MAIN has reported that Florida moved to require AI policies at public colleges.
Miami Dade College is already building around AI. Its AI Elite Talent Hub puts students on company projects.
The school rule covers K-12, but the thread is the same. Florida wants AI in classrooms with limits, logs and a person in charge.
Miami’s schools now have until July 1, 2027, to show they can do it.
Sources: 1. District Administration: What Florida’s new AI rule means for school leaders, by Leonard J. Dietzen III 2. MAIN: Teens Lean on AI for Mental Health. Florida Tried to Act 3. MAIN: Florida Moves to Require AI Policies at Public Colleges 4. MAIN: Miami Dade College Puts AI Students on Company Projects