State board AI specialist outlines teacher lesson-plan program, policy review

Matt Winters, AI education specialist for the Utah State Board of Education, told the Standards and Assessment Committee that the agency is running cohorts of teachers to develop grade‑ and content‑appropriate lesson plans that incorporate or teach about artificial intelligence.

Winters said the program, run in partnership with the STEM Action Center, has three cohorts: an initial cohort of about 25 teachers in Davis County, a second cohort at Utah Valley University with about 40–50 teachers, and a rural cohort planned for later in the spring. He said participating teachers will present lesson plans at a state educational technology conference and that the lessons will be posted to an “AI Hub” on the agency’s eMedia portal and the STEM Action Center’s website.

Why it matters: School leaders and teachers across Utah are requesting concrete, vetted lesson plans that show how to use AI tools safely and appropriately in specific grades and subjects. The board’s effort aims to supply usable classroom materials and a public repository for them.

Committee members asked operational and policy questions. Chair Jenny Earl and State Board member Joanne Brinton asked where lesson plans would be hosted; Winters said the STEM Action Center plans to host them and that the Utah Education Network’s AI Hub will contain the board’s AI framework. Leanne Wood, vice chair and State Board member, thanked Winters for recent AI summits the board hosted, noting those sessions emphasized privacy and practical classroom use.

Winters also described a policy review: the board’s AI specialist team is working with the state’s Office of AI Policy in the Department of Commerce to review existing laws and codes that intersect with the board’s AI framework. He said the team has met several times and expects to present possible outputs shortly after the legislative session. Winters identified two legal areas under review: student privacy protections (FERPA) and intellectual‑property questions being considered by the U.S. Copyright Office.

Winters described his position as created in 2024 to support internal professional development, local education agency engagement, and cross‑stakeholder policy work. He told the committee he will attend monthly at the board’s discretion and is available to provide briefings or one‑on‑one appointments for board members.

The committee did not take any formal action on Winters’s report during the meeting. Members asked staff to distribute the board’s current AI policy document and to circulate updates on the STEM Action Center lesson‑plan repository as materials become available.

Ending: Winters encouraged committee members to request follow‑up briefings and said the office will share an updated AI glossary and any policy guidance after the legislative session if developments warrant it.