Dinowitz on moratorium calls, data breaches, and cognitive offloading

Many council members, including myself and numerous community education councils, have gone as far as calling for a two-year moratorium on the use of student-facing AI in schools.

They point to ongoing worries about data privacy breaches and lack of transparency.

And very troublingly for me as a former teacher, cognitive offloading and algorithmic bias.

Others, however, argue that the question of allowing AI in schools is no longer relevant.

National survey data show that the majority of students are using some form of AI for school-related activities.

Instead, they argue the question should be, how do we harness it safely, equitably, and effectively for our students?

Underlying this debate is the issue of data collection by third-party vendors and whether DOE's policy aligns with national standards.

A 2026 audit by the state comptroller found that DOE does not have a documented data classification policy and does not maintain a comprehensive list of all applications used by each school.

With a number of high-profile data breaches, including the PowerSchool breach that exposed personally identifiable information for tens of millions of students and educators.

nationwide.

Questions remain around what information is being collected about students and who has access to this information.

Now as someone who doesn't even believe calculators should be used in elementary school classrooms, I look forward to hearing today about how DOE is planning to protect student data

plans for updated DOE guidelines and AI, and how DOE plans to ensure academic integrity and rigor in light of AI.

I'd now like to turn it to Chair De La Rosa for opening remarks.