President Donald Trump signed a executive decree Wednesday to increase the education of artificial intelligence in schools from kindergarten to 12th year, calling for federal collaboration with states to better prepare students for advanced AI use.
The Order directs the American Secretary for Education, the US Secretary for Labor and the Director of the National Science Foundation to work together to increase the number of AI courses and certificate programs available for high school students.
He also asked the United States Ministry of Education to prioritize the financing of teacher training, the Ministry of Labor to use financial incentives to extend IA and National Science Foundation learning to increase research on the use of AI in education.
The decree also creates a working group on the White House on AI education, by ordering it to set up a presidential challenge of the AI to present the achievements of students and teachers, establish public-private partnerships to support the education of the AI and “use the commitments of the industry and identify the mechanisms of federal financing, including discretionary subsidies, which can be used to provide resources for education Ai-12. ”.
Chaired by Michael Kratsios, director of the Office of the Science and Technological Policy for the White House, the AI working group must include the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Lori Chavezremer work secretary and special advisor for AI and Crypto David Sacks, among others, according to the decree.
Shortly after Trump signed the directive – one of the seven decrees related to the education he signed yesterday – McMahon applauded him in a press releaseDeclaring that “American classrooms must better align their activities to meet the requirements of accelerating innovation and rapidly evolving workforce”.
“While artificial intelligence reshape all industrial sector, it is of vital importance that the next generation of students is ready to take advantage of this technology in all aspects of their professional life,” she said in a statement. “The Trump administration will open the way to the training of our educators to promote early education and responsible for AI in our classrooms to maintain American leadership in the global economy.”
A seat at the table
Wednesday's executive decree highlights the importance of building the literacy of AI and expanding the AI labor opportunities, according to a public declaration From Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking (COSN), which stressed that district chiefs and educators were to be involved in the training of these initiatives.
In separate emails at Government technology Today, other education and technology leaders have weighed on the directive, stressing the need for sustainable funding to support the integration of school AI and predict that such a change will require new approaches to teaching and learning.
Stacy Hawthorne, president of the COSN board of directors and executive director of Edtech Leaders Alliance, said that yesterday's directive “reports that the conversation has gone from media planning to long -term strategic planning”.
“I am optimistic about the emphasis on the alignment of the workforce and the opportunity of the students, but what will do or break this effort is to know if the leading voices of teachers, managers of the Ed-Tech and school administrators are really included,” wrote Hawthorne.
Julia Fallon, Executive Director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), wrote that Setda “will watch closely to see how the federal advice to come and define responsible use and address critical issues such as algorithmic bias, transparency, confidentiality of student data and support for educators”.
“It is essential that state education agencies have a seat at the table to shape these directives – and that their capacity building needs are both recognized and supported with sustained funding,” said Fallon.
Financing concerns
Kris Hagel, information director of the Peninsula School District in Washington, who was rented As the first IA leader in the education of kindergarten in the 12th year, he wrote that he would also like to see more details on the financing of the decree.
“We are examining a radical change in the skills that our workforce will need due to the progress of the AI, and focus on the skills that all our graduates need will be the critical work of the next five years,” said Hagel. “I hope that the administration will make a kind of commitment to financing on this subject, because training is expensive, and schools and districts will result in significant costs because they increase this work.”
Alex Kotran, CEO of the non -profit organization Aeedu, who works with schools to advance the preparation of the AI, echoes these concerns about funding. He wrote that although he is happy to see that the executive order codifies the need to prepare learners for a “world where AI is everywhere”, the change of a system as important and decentralized as kindergarten schools in the 12th year will require a national movement – and substantial resources.
“Until (executive decree), it was not clear if we would have the possibility of taking advantage of the federal government as the engine of this movement,” said Kotran. “On the other hand, we do not know to what extent the (executive decree) will unlock new funding, and even a infusion of hundreds of millions will not be sufficient. But the definition of the agenda has training effects beyond the government – it is philanthropy, the agencies of the government of the state and others to reflect on the way in which they can provide the required resources. “
Fundamental change
In addition to obtaining funding for training and equipment to fully and securely implement AI in kindergarten schools to 12th year, education leaders may also need to rethink pedagogy and best practices. Superintendent Michael Nagler of Mineola Public Schools, NY, named “Superintendent of the year” in 2025 by Cosn and the American Association of School Administrators, wrote that schools may need support for changes to the education structure in general, so that teachers and students can benefit from the use of this technology.
“The progression of AI should not be limited to a discussion on products. I think that the impact of AI will fundamentally change the way we teach and learn,” said Nagler. “Thus, when leaders think of this initiative, we should discuss the needs of the Alpha generation and how schools must change their practices to align with new technologies.”
