America's Youth AI Festival: National AI Policy - AASA, The School Superintendents Association

America's Youth AI Festival: National AI Policy

July 30, 2026

America's Youth AI Festival: Students Lead the Conversation on AI in Schools

In July 2026, more than 130 student and education leaders from all 50 states traveled to Boston for a weekend unlike any before it. Hosted by AASA, Day of AI, MIT RAISE, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, America's Youth AI Festival brought students into the Senate Chamber itself, not to observe policymaking, but to lead it.

The result: the nation's first student-led AI policy for K-12 schools. Explore what happened, straight from the Senate Chamber to the national stage!

Watch the Livestream

Catch up and watch the livestream of the Student Senators debating and voting on the final policy on July 19, 2026 inside the Senate Chamber at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston.

We drafted this bill with the intention of ensuring a diverse range of ideas and voices were represented. This bill is the starting point for schools to responsibly implement the policy in ways that meet the needs of their students. Because every school district faces unique circumstances, a one-size-fits-all approach is not practical. This bill has the power to make students' voices heard in a field that's already reforming our lives.

Kanika Agarwala, Massachusetts Student Senator

After a weekend of debate and amendment, Student Senators passed the STUDENTS FIRST Act by an 82-16 vote, a landmark set of policy recommendations for responsible AI use in K-12 schools.

See what's in it and what it means for students, parents, teachers, and administrators.

Follow the weekend as it happened, from swearing-in to final vote.

- Friday, July 17: Student Leaders Help Launch National Conversation on AI in Education

- Saturday, July 18: Student Senators Begin Crafting National AI Policy

- Sunday, July 19: Students From All 50 States Approve National AI Policy Recommendations

America's Youth AI Festival drew national attention before, during, and after the Student Senate's vote. Explore the coverage below.

Following the Event

- Adults have struggled to set rules for AI in school. These teens figured it out (NPR Exclusive)

NPR went inside the Student Senate weekend to show how 98 teens from all 50 states negotiated, debated, and ultimately passed the nation's first student-led AI policy for schools.

- Opinion: Teachers need clear rules for creative uses of AI (The Boston Globe)

Globe columnist Marcela García uses a Lawrence High School theater teacher's hands-on experience with AI to frame a larger point: while schools debate policy, both educators and students are already using these tools daily. The piece features the Youth AI Festival as proof that young people are ready to lead where adult policymakers have stalled.

- Harrison School District 2 students help craft national AI guidelines (FOX21 News)

Two Sierra High School students and their principal represented Colorado at the festival, joining a three-day residency focused on responsible, safe AI integration across K-12 systems.

Leading Up to the Event

- Opinion: Here's how some Georgia students help lead us in the AI era (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

City Schools of Decatur Superintendent Gyimah Whitaker previews her district's trip to Boston, framing student-led AI policy as the natural next step in a "systemwide directive" built around amplifying every voice.

- Students Will Take the Lead on Crafting a Model AI Policy for Schools (Education Week)

A preview of the summit, with Day of AI's Jeff Riley explaining why organizers deliberately avoided being prescriptive, so students could shape a policy that felt authentic to their own experience with the technology.

AASA Press Releases

We are coming here today as senators and superintendents because we acknowledge that artificial intelligence ethics in schools is a topic we cannot avoid anymore. This bill has inconsistencies, yes, but ultimately it is difficult to be the first students making changes that impact the entire nation. Ideas never come out as clean in the moment, especially with the limited time given. But this is the start, not the end. Change is difficult to adapt to, but stepping out of what we have been comfortable with will give us the opportunity we have never known before. I urge my senators to approve this bill because, like my mother says, the only way to learn how to swim is ultimately to dive into those waters head first.Sarah Zahka

Our bill allows for districts to make moves within restrictions, but it also allows for districts to work with the funding and resources that they have. We're not all alike. Many of us come from schools with thousands of kids, and some of us come from schools with a few hundred. But the way our bill was written, it was all of us working together – all of us combining our ideas to get this bill and the amendments passed.

Elijah Malaquias Martinez

I am in support of this bill because right now students have a voice and a chance at representation on a larger scale. This bill will guide states that currently have little to no regulations and serves as a starting point for states to be able to implement some of the decisions that we make today into their school systems. AI is the future, and we need to find ways that adapt and grow along with it.Shamitha Doki

This policy can be the foundation that allows our entire nation to be AI literate and understand the consequences of AI, both positive and negative. The policy will not only benefit our own school, district, and state but also our nation as a whole coming together.

Samantha Roberts Dildine

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