Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Edtech Ai topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
EdTech vendors tell Senate committee AI, assistive tech and privacy standards should be funded and standardized
Summary
Representatives from Merlin Mind, PRISMS, Everway, 1EdTech and other vendors pitched pilots and statewide supports for classroom AI/assistive tech and student data privacy infrastructure; 1EdTech urged the committee to fund a centralized compliance platform to help districts manage vendor agreements.
Multiple education‑technology vendors testified to the Senate Education Committee about potential state roles in supporting classroom deployment of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, assistive technology, and data‑privacy infrastructure.
Jason Veil, introduced as vice president for business development at Merlin Mind, said voice‑enabled classroom orchestration can reduce teacher technology friction and urged Ohio to explore pilots that help teachers use AI tools without increasing classroom workload. "Thoughtfully deployed technology can assist teachers...technology cannot replace teachers," Veil said, adding that Merlin Mind is used in more than 10,000 classrooms worldwide and would welcome Ohio pilot discussions.
Anuruba Ganguly, founder and CEO of PRISMS (a virtual‑reality math and science platform), described district pilots showing improved Algebra‑1 benchmark performance and asked for state support to scale hardware, teacher upskilling and district partnerships.
Glenna Wright Gallo, representing Everway (assistive technology and AI for learning), urged investments that align assistive screening and literacy supports to interventions and workforce pipelines; she referenced ReadOhio and dyslexia supports and urged funding for a pilot in K‑12 and community colleges.
Curtis Barnes of 1EdTech (a standards and interoperability nonprofit) testified that Senate Bill 29 (cited in testimony as Bill 29) establishes an expectation that districts publish data‑privacy agreements, but smaller districts lack operational tools to do this. He urged funding for a centralized compliance infrastructure and described 1EdTech's "trusted apps" vetting work aligned with FERPA and COPPA.
Testimony emphasized three themes: pilot and scale investments for proven tools (VR, voice enablement, assistive AI), teacher professional learning and hardware, and a state‑level operational toolset for managing vendor privacy and security agreements. Committee members asked about budgets and whether pilots were already in state plans; witnesses said some vendor pilots are active in Ohio and other states but that sustained state funding would enable scale and equitable access.
