Husted leads bill to integrate AI in classrooms, prepare American students

WASHINGTON - Sens. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) today introduced the Recommending Artificial Intelligence Standards in Education (RAISE) Act. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is an original cosponsor of the bill.

This bill would add artificial intelligence (AI) and technology literacy to the subjects that states may establish standards for in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. AI readiness is essential to maintaining America's economic competitiveness in the face of global adversaries like China.

"America must master AI to guarantee our future security and economic leadership. That means American students have to win the race to AI readiness. The RAISE Act would encourage AI competency among our students to make sure the Land of the Free dominates the AI landscape for generations. Neither our economy nor our national defense can outpace adversaries like Communist China without that dominance," said Husted.

"As Delaware's former Secretary of Labor and the Ranking Member of the Education and the American Family Subcommittee, I have long been dedicated to ensuring our students leave the classroom with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in our changing economy. It is clear that understanding AI will be imperative to that success. This important piece of legislation will empower states to develop academic standards on AI and prepare our leaders of tomorrow to meet the moment. I am grateful for Senator Husted's partnership and look forward to getting this bill passed. The bipartisan coalition of Senators already on board shows just how serious we are about getting this done on behalf of our future generations," said Blunt Rochester.

"AI has the power to help students learn and reach their full potential, but they must be taught to use it responsibly. This bill gives states the authority to develop their own AI curriculum, ensuring students can safely harness this technology to succeed and be better prepared for today's workforce," said Cassidy.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act governs school standards for learning. With most education policy happening at local and state levels, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires states to set learning standards for math, reading and science and gives states the ability to set standards for other subjects. Husted's legislation would insert AI and emerging technology as a named option for standards, making it clear that-just like math, reading and science-AI is a core arena for educating America's students.

Husted, Cassidy and Blunt Rochester sit on the Senate HELP Committee.

As lieutenant governor of Ohio, Husted helped launch an AI Toolkit for Ohio's K-12 school districts to empower policymakers, superintendents, principals, IT staff, teachers and parents to advance AI literacy in their school districts. The toolkit provides resources to promote student privacy, data security and ethics. In April, Husted visited Tippecanoe High School to celebrate the launch of the first K-12 AI lab in the nation. There, he saw the results of the AI Toolkit in action.

Leveraging AI increases productivity in the classroom and workplace. Husted recently introduced a bill to streamline the mammoth Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by using an AI tool to identify redundant and outdated rules. The bill is based on the success that Ohio has had using an AI tool to locate and remove outdated, conflicting or redundant content in the state code. As a result, the state is on the road to shaving 5 million unnecessary words from its 17-million-word code, saving an estimated $44 million in taxpayer dollars and tens of thousands of manhours.

Husted also introduced bipartisan legislation to prohibit the use of DeepSeek-a new AI platform with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party-on all government devices and networks.

Full text of the bill is available here.