NM lawmakers receive push to update AI education policies

A New Mexico legislative analyst this week recommended state lawmakers adopt policies to better define the use of artificial intelligence in schools, as research develops on its potential benefits and harms.

Saraí Ortiz, an analyst for the state’s Legislative Education Study Committee, told lawmakers at Wednesday’s interim committee presentation in Raton that New Mexico’s approach to public education and AI remains undefined.

At present, the state’s sole guidance for AI use in classrooms is a non-binding 2025 guidance document from the New Mexico Public Education Department, Ortiz said. The document states that “AI can enrich the learning experience, but it is human oversight, inquiry and reflection that ultimately drive meaningful education,” and gives suggestions for AI use in classrooms at different grade levels.

Ortiz recommended New Mexico lawmakers consider comprehensive policy to address a variety of issues, including data privacy, curriculum and tribal sovereignty.

Those policies would help guide the use of platforms currently employed in New Mexico schools, such as ChatGPT for generating lesson plans, chatbots for tutoring and products to help screen students for learning disabilities.

Ortiz said state legislatures are increasingly grappling with various elements of AI in education, such as its impacts on children’s problem-solving abilities, plagiarism, privacy and data. State lawmakers considered 134 pieces of AI-related education legislation across 31 states in 2026 alone, she said.

More than half the states — including NM — have issued AI guidance for schools

However, more questions than answers remain about AI’s impact on kids, she said.

“The promise of AI in education is personalized learning, improved outcomes and classroom efficiency, but we also know that research is currently mixed and still emerging,” Ortiz said, and cited a January 2026 Brookings Institute study that stated current AI benefits “pale in comparison” to its risks in the classroom.

Sen. William “Bill” Soules (D-Las Cruces), who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said he uses AI already as a “thought partner” and a writing tool, and generally expressed optimism at its use in classrooms.

“I think we’re right on the front end of how to use AI to teach students, how to use it to be more efficient and to do things they couldn’t do before, but not to use it as a substitute for thinking, but more as a thought partner to think with you on how to answer questions,” he said.

Rep. Debra Sariñana (D-Albuquerque), a longtime math teacher, said she knows many teachers with a “love-hate relationship” with AI tools. She said AI’s potential misuse along with its impact on students’ problem-solving abilities needs to be considered when expanding its use.

“There are times I want it coming from their brains, no computers anywhere around,” she said.

New Mexico American Federated Teachers President Whitney Holland told Source NM that the issue of using AI in education remains “complicated.”

She said none of the 30 school districts the union represents, including the state’s largest, included language around AI use in classrooms in contract negotiations, but said she expects that to change “if not in this round of bargaining, by this time next year.”

Holland expressed concern about the long-term impacts of using the AI tools in the classroom, and the prospect of adopting them too quickly.

“At the end of the day, our goal at the union is to safeguard what our children have access to, but also the work that our educators do,” Holland said. “No matter how AI evolves over time, it will never fully replace or replicate a good, high-quality teacher.”