Experts and district leaders tell House Education Committee Pennsylvania needs statewide AI framework for schools

A House Education Committee hearing in Pittsburgh on artificial intelligence in schools ended with broad agreement among testifiers that Pennsylvania needs clearer statewide guardrails for AI use in K–12 classrooms.

Speakers from the Education Commission of the States, the American Federation of Teachers, code.org and local district leaders outlined common priorities: invest in professional development for educators, protect student data, require vendor transparency and audits to detect bias, and integrate AI into computer‑science education so students learn how the systems work.

"Right now we're seeing how the rapid growth of AI has led states to develop policies and guidelines related to integration and responsible use of AI technologies in schools," said Katya Krieger, a policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States. Krieger told members the commission has identified dozens of state task forces and guidance documents, and that models vary from state‑directed model policies to district‑created rules.

Robin Petucci of the American Federation of Teachers said the primary concern should be safety and educator authority. "We really must make the right choices right now or risk real harm to students, educators, and public trust," Petucci said, urging that teachers have a central role in procurement and decisions about classroom use.

Krista D'Amelio, director of state government affairs for Pennsylvania at code.org, recommended pairing AI instruction with computer‑science foundations. "Meaningful AI literacy requires a foundation in computer science," she said, urging the committee to consider statewide standards, a potential graduation requirement in computer science, and investments in teacher preparation.

District leaders framed those recommendations around equity and operational needs. Mark Stuckey, chief technology officer for Pittsburgh Public Schools, described a two‑tier risk if premium AI tools remain behind paywalls: "If we allow the gap to go unaddressed, we will have built a two‑tiered education system where the quality of learning is determined not by a child's potential, but by the family's income," he said. He asked the committee for a statewide policy that includes vendor transparency about training data, required equity impact standards and bias audits, and targeted investments so rural and high‑poverty districts can participate.

On practical classroom issues, witnesses and teachers described a range of district responses. Hempfield Area School District Superintendent Mark Holzman said his district uses a traffic‑light rubric (green/yellow/red) to signal where AI is allowed with varying degrees of teacher control. Melissa Constantino Perubin, a sixth‑grade teacher representing the Pennsylvania State Education Association, urged a human‑centered approach: "The goal is to augment and empower people rather than replace them, including our educators and our students."

Committee members asked whether AI will replace teachers and how to evaluate systems such as large language models. Witnesses rejected the idea that AI should replace educators and said evaluation should consider more than test scores — including social‑emotional measures and critical thinking — and that procurement should include model cards and tools to measure hallucination rates.

The committee did not take formal action at the hearing. Chairs said the conversation would continue, including a follow‑up session at Carnegie Mellon University and additional testimony scheduled for the next day. The hearing ended with lawmakers and witnesses aligned on the need for policy attention to training, privacy, procurement safeguards and equitable funding so AI can be used responsibly in Pennsylvania classrooms.

Next steps: committee members said they expected to collect follow‑up information from witnesses on state examples, procurement safeguards and broadband access, and to consider draft legislative options in coming weeks.