AI policy for schools, without the guesswork.
Most district AI policies are either a ban that students route around, or boilerplate borrowed from another district that answers someone else's questions. Neither protects your students — or your board.
These templates, checklists, and guides give K–12 leaders policy language you can actually adapt, each annotated with why it matters and where it sits in the 5-Layer AI Governance Framework. Free, no gate, written for superintendents, CTOs, and curriculum directors.
A policy document is one layer of governance — not the whole job
When a district asks “do we have an AI policy?”, what the board, parents, and auditors are really asking is: do we govern AI?A written acceptable-use policy answers part of that. It does not answer who owns the strategy, how vendors are evaluated, what happens to assessment when AI can do the homework, how staff are trained, or what infrastructure choices you're locking yourself into.
That's why every resource here is organized around Banyan's 5-Layer AI Governance Framework: Strategic Clarity (board-approved intent), Risk & Compliance (FERPA/COPPA, vendors, integrity boundaries), Instructional Integration (the cognitive core — which thinking must stay human), Operational Implementation (roadmap, PD, community), and Infrastructure & Future-Readiness(vendor independence, what's next). A policy that only lives in Layer 2 is a policy that fails in Layers 1 and 3.
Use the templates to draft faster. Use the checklist to find the gaps. And if you want an objective read on where your district actually stands, the free 5-Layer Readiness Snapshot scores all five layers in about ten minutes.
Start here
The resources
AI Acceptable Use Policy template
Annotated, adaptable policy language covering permitted and prohibited uses for staff and students, tool approval, data privacy, and incident response.
OpenAcademic Integrity & AI template
Grade-band boundaries, an assignment-level disclosure framework, and assessment guidance — grounded in cognitive integrity, not just plagiarism rules.
OpenDistrict AI Policy Checklist
Every question your policy needs to answer, organized by the five layers of governance — from board intent to infrastructure.
OpenBrowse the template library
All current templates in one place, with more added regularly (data privacy and staff use are next).
OpenWhen the template isn't enough
Templates get a draft on the table. Districts that want an outside read — a full governance assessment, a policy audit, or a build-out roadmap — work with Banyan directly. See how Kennewick School District turned AI skeptics into practitioners, or start where every engagement starts: the free Snapshot.