Howard County students hoping to lean on artificial intelligence for homework may need to clear it with a teacher first under proposed rules. The county school board is considering new rules governing how students and staff can use generative AI; as proposed, student use would be limited to grades 9 through 12 and platforms the board has specifically signed off on.
What the New Policy Actually Requires
Under the proposed policy covering the 2026-27 school year, student use of generative AI in assignments would be limited to high schoolers working within board-approved AI platforms, according to a Howard County policy document. The district's AI plan is required to spell out when, how, and to what extent a staff member may permit a student to use AI in assignments, and teachers who do allow it must inform students of the exact conditions at the time the work is assigned. As the Baltimore Sun reported, students would also need a teacher's approval to use AI in assignments. The board held the first reading on Oct. 27, with a second reading and adoption scheduled for Nov. 17, 2026.
Students who do use an AI tool are also on the hook for documenting it. The policy requires proper citation or documentation methods to support any content an AI tool contributes to a student assignment. Presenting AI-completed work as entirely the student's own is flagged in the policy as a potentially prohibited use, alongside using AI to create harmful misinformation or to handle confidential personal information.
Gemini Access Already in Place for High Schoolers
The groundwork for this policy was laid earlier this year. Howard County high school students already have access to education-based Google Gemini accounts, per WBAL. The district approved Gemini for high schoolers back in February to help them learn how to use the emerging technology while protecting academic integrity, as the Capital Gazette reported at the time.
The policy calls for the district's AI Plan and policy to be reviewed and/or revised as needed. That built-in flexibility matters given how fast the underlying technology landscape has been shifting. In August, Google made Gemini available to K-12 students of all ages, a move that caught many districts off guard, according to Education Week. Districts that had previously switched Gemini off for students were able to keep it that way, the outlet noted.
Part of a Statewide Push
Howard County isn't writing these rules in a vacuum. Maryland's State Department of Education has been developing AI guidelines since fall 2025, according to Maryland Matters, part of a broader state effort requiring districts to set their own AI rules, vet tools, and train educators. Nearby, Montgomery County Public Schools have taken a different approach, focusing AI primarily on supporting teacher tasks while keeping student use under tighter watch, the outlet reported. A Maryland artificial-intelligence education act referenced in state legislative records took effect June 1, 2026, according to the Maryland General Assembly.
Frederick County offers a glimpse of how another Maryland district has handled the same balancing act. Starting in the 2025-26 school year, Frederick County Public Schools allowed middle and high school students to use Google Gemini, but only with teacher permission, while blocking all other AI platforms on school devices, according to Government Technology. Under that district's initial guidelines, students must assume AI tools are forbidden for academic work unless a teacher explicitly says otherwise, the outlet reported.
Demand among students is already well ahead of the policy catch-up. In winter 2025, 54 percent of middle and high school students reported using AI to some extent for schoolwork, including 61 percent of high schoolers, per RAND. That same research found that by spring 2025, 53 percent of surveyed ELA, math and science teachers reported using AI for instructional planning or teaching. Yet guidance has lagged behind that adoption nationally — RAND also found only 45 percent of principals reported their school or district had issued policy or guidance on AI use, while just 34 percent of teachers said they had AI-related academic-integrity policies in place.
The stakes of getting training wrong are visible elsewhere. In Ohio, where state law has required every district to have an AI policy since summer 2026, Plymouth High School turned Gemini off entirely because teachers as a whole hadn't been trained to use it, Education Week reported. Howard County's approach — restricting access to high schoolers on vetted platforms, with built-in disclosure and citation requirements — appears designed to avoid exactly that kind of scramble.
