Maryland school districts face a fall 2026 deadline to adopt AI policies under new law
Maryland’s SB 720 gives school districts a fall 2026 deadline to adopt AI policies, built around MSDE guidance with eight critical elements.
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels
Maryland school districts have a fall 2026 deadline to adopt their own artificial intelligence policies under the Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act (SB 720), signed by Gov. Wes Moore on May 26, 2026, according to reporting by Maryland Matters carried by WTOP on July 6, 2026. The Maryland AI school policy mandate requires the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to issue statewide AI guidance and gives local districts 120 days from that guidance’s release to adopt aligned policies of their own.
What Maryland’s AI guidance for K-12 schools covers
MSDE’s guidance document, “Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Public Schools: Maryland’s Framework for Responsible AI in Education,” was presented to the State Board of Education on February 24, 2026 by Richard Kincaid, Assistant State Superintendent in the Division of College and Career Pathways, under a memo signed by State Superintendent Carey M. Wright. Maryland Matters reported that MSDE held the document’s public release until it could be aligned with the requirements of SB 720, so the precise date the 120-day clock started – and therefore the exact fall 2026 cutoff – is not stated in the available coverage.
The framework organizes its recommendations around eight critical elements, along with companion resources including a Local Action Planning Guide, a Classroom Companion, separate guidance for state and local education agencies, and an AI Tool Evaluation Rubric.
| # | Critical element |
|---|---|
| 1 | Human-centered, student-focused use |
| 2 | Equity and civil rights protections |
| 3 | Data privacy and security (FERPA, COPPA, PPRA, IDEA, ADA, COMAR) |
| 4 | Academic integrity and assessment |
| 5 | Professional learning and capacity building |
| 6 | AI literacy and curriculum integration |
| 7 | Operational and administrative AI oversight |
| 8 | Procurement and vendor governance |
Richard Kincaid told Maryland Matters that “AI is not something that replaces the things that are happening within a classroom,” adding that “the teacher will always and forever be the subject matter expert for the content within a class.” State Sen. Katie Fry Hester, the Howard/Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored SB 720, said the goal is that “students need to know how to use these tools, and they need to understand the fundamentals of how they work.” Mary Pat Fannon of the Public School Superintendents’ Association of Maryland said districts want “flexibility to be able to engage with our individual teachers unions… to figure out where we are right now.”
Maryland’s approach follows an earlier 10-step guide to building an AI policy in schools that has circulated among districts nationally, and MSDE’s framework echoes broader calls for implementing AI in education responsibly rather than banning it outright.
Part of a wider state trend
Maryland is one of four states with new 2026 laws requiring both a state education department to issue AI guidance and local districts to adopt aligned policies, alongside Idaho, Oklahoma and Virginia, according to K-12 Dive reporting published July 9, 2026. Ohio and Tennessee had already enacted similar district-level AI policy mandates before 2026. Separately, the advocacy group AI for Education has tracked AI guidance – not necessarily a district-policy mandate – issued by 34 states and Puerto Rico as of October 2025, according to K-12 Dive’s sourcing.
University of Maryland education policy professor Jing Liu was quoted saying “AI is very different compared to prior technology breakthroughs,” a distinction cited by Maryland Matters as part of the rationale for treating AI policy separately from earlier school technology rules. Argyle Middle School computer science teacher Justin Fauntroy said of AI tools, “it is a tool, it has its benefits, but if they’re not taught, then that’s where the problems come in.”
About the Maryland State Department of Education
The Maryland State Department of Education oversees the state’s public K-12 system and reports to the State Board of Education, led by State Superintendent Carey M. Wright. MSDE’s Division of College and Career Pathways, under Assistant State Superintendent Richard Kincaid, developed the AI framework alongside the Office of Teaching and Learning. The framework was last updated in February 2026 and was built to align with the Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act once Gov. Wes Moore signed it into law in May 2026, giving Maryland’s roughly two dozen local school systems a common structure – covering privacy, procurement, academic integrity and teacher training – to follow as they write their own district-level policies ahead of the fall 2026 deadline.
Sources: Maryland State Department of Education; WTOP / Maryland Matters; K-12 Dive
Featured image: photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels (free Pexels license).
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I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.
