On September 16, 2026, Florida’s State Board of Education adopted two AI rules. Rule 6A-14.0719 covers the 28 institutions of the Florida College System. An amendment to Rule 6A-1.0957 covers K-12 districts and charter schools. The state’s universities answer to a separate board and are not mentioned.
The college rule requires each board of trustees to adopt AI policies that apply to students, faculty, staff, administrators, and guests. The central provision is about graded work. Policies must bar students from using AI on a graded assignment or assessment unless the instructor explicitly permits it.
Each college must also list its approved AI instructional and business tools, with approved uses. It must adopt a definition or framework for AI literacy. Parents of enrolled minors, such as dual-enrollment students, must be told when their child will use an AI instructional tool. Tools built to simulate friendship or meet a student’s social needs do not qualify as approved instructional tools.
The K-12 rule goes further. By July 1, 2027, districts and charters must amend their internet safety policies to:
- Notify parents in plain language when an AI instructional tool is approved, and let them opt their child in or receive a non-AI alternative of comparable quality.
- Bar AI designed to meet students’ social or emotional needs, simulate companionship, or use relationship-building design.
- Bar undisclosed behavior monitoring, social scoring, and psychological profiling.
- Train teachers and administrators on AI risks, limitations, safety, and compliance.
- Keep vendors from selling or commercially exploiting student data to train commercial AI models.
- Keep records of student interactions for at least 30 days, publish a list of approved tools, and report every AI instructional tool to the state.
The rule also requires tools to be accurate, transparent, viewpoint neutral, and accessible to students and educators with disabilities. Separately, the education commissioner directed districts to show how evidence of effectiveness drives edtech purchases and renewals.
Two gaps. The college rule text we read sets no deadline. And The Squawk’s September 25 issue reported a requirement that staff be able to switch off a tool without the vendor. We did not find that in either rule or the department’s release.
The college rule settles one question for every course: the instructor decides whether AI is allowed on graded work.
Why it matters
For colleges, the default is now no AI on graded work, and permission is the exception. That gives students a clear rule. It also puts the burden on faculty. Every course that allows AI has to say so explicitly, and every course that is silent prohibits it.
The approved tools list and the literacy framework turn AI into a procurement and training question. Someone has to decide what goes on the list and what faculty are taught. The rule leaves both to each college.
The K-12 requirements reach vendors directly. A product that schools can buy now has to work alongside a non-AI alternative, keep 30 days of interaction records, stay accessible, and keep student data out of model training.
Questions for your institution
- Does every syllabus say whether AI is allowed on graded work, and on which assignments?
- Who maintains the approved tools list, and how does a tool get on it?
- Which AI literacy framework will you adopt, and who trains faculty on it?
- For dual-enrollment minors, who sends the parent notice?
- Can your vendors document accessibility and confirm that student data stays out of model training?
Florida made the instructor the authority. Colleges now have to give instructors the policy, the tool list, and the training to use it.
Sources
- Florida sets national standard for responsible AI in classrooms, from VPK through college (Florida Department of Education, Sept. 16, 2026)
- Rule 6A-14.0719, AI Policies in Florida College System Institutions (Florida Department of Education)
- Rule 6A-1.0957, Internet Safety Policy, AI amendment (Florida Department of Education)
- State colleges, preK-12 schools must implement AI guardrails before July (Florida Phoenix, Sept. 16, 2026)