Real safety rules on AI, full transparency to families, and fierce protection of kids’ data, development, and dignity.
Fluency with the tools that will define the economy — AI taught well, by trained teachers, as a core skill for the jobs ahead.
Preparing kids for the future has topped NPU’s polling for years — 95% of parents called it important in both 2024 and 2025. In 2026, parents named what that future runs on: AI.
of parents say being skilled with AI tools will be essential or very important to their child’s future career.
Share of parents who say each should be a focus for their child’s school next year:
Share who say generative AI chatbots should be required by law to…
Support for every core AI guardrail, by group — % who want it required by law or disclosed by schools:
Net impact on their child — % “mostly positive” minus % “mostly negative”:
Share who say federal policy doesn’t do enough to protect kids under 18:
Share who say K–12 public schools should do each:
Of nine things parents grade their child’s school on, “communicating clear policies on technology & AI” ranks dead last — the one place schools are furthest behind what parents expect.
Faced with AI, too many schools default to the punitive: ban ChatGPT, hunt for “cheaters,” confiscate the phone. That polices kids. It doesn’t prepare them — and it leaves parents in the dark about a technology already in the building.
Lower-risk uses: brainstorming, outlining, summarizing public material, drafting routine communication.
Anything touching vulnerable students — IEPs / 504s, multilingual learners. Demand real human review.
Uses that put a child’s data, safety, or dignity at risk. Off-limits, no exceptions.
Codify the chatbot protections 80–90% of parents want into law.
Schools disclose to families when & how AI touches their child.
Close the gap — 60% use AI, only 18% are trained.
Prepare kids for the jobs and economy of the future.
Guard every child’s data, development & dignity by design.
A national framework — like the world’s had since 2014.