Based on responses from 607 K-12 leaders in 44 states, CoSN’s annual U.S. State of EdTech report revealed that school systems are transitioning from a period of rapid experimentation with AI toward a more mature phase, where they are increasingly focused on managing risk and building trust rather than deploying tech for the purpose of innovation.
David Schuler, executive director of the nonprofit School Superintendents Association (AASA), said that since technology is being embedded in every aspect of teaching, learning and operations, it’s incumbent upon administrators to communicate a coherent vision.
“Today’s superintendents and technology leaders must work in close partnership to align vision, strategy and implementation,” he said in a public statement about CoSN’s report. “This is not simply about managing devices or systems — it’s about building coherent, future-ready organizations that can adapt to change while staying focused on student outcomes.”
CYBERSECURITY AND DATA PRIVACY AT THE FOREFRONT
According to the report, cybersecurity and privacy now rank as primary concerns for ed-tech leaders, reflecting the essential role that secure digital systems play in modern education. To combat rising cyber threats, districts are prioritizing investments in monitoring and detection, identity protection, firewall technologies, and incident response partnerships.
Despite these efforts, CoSN said significant hurdles remain, namely around the tension between accelerated AI adoption and the lack of resources to fully secure these new systems.
Approximately 65 percent of districts cited insufficient budgets as their biggest barrier to effective cybersecurity, while 52 percent pointed to a lack of staff training or expertise to keep up with new threats. These concerns are compounded by the rise of AI, as 75 percent of leaders said they were “very concerned” about AI-enabled cyber attacks.
AI ADOPTION: FROM EXPERIMENTATION TO POLICY
Data from the report also showed the normalization of AI, moving from varying pilot phases into the realm of formal governance structures: 79 percent of districts said they had established official AI guidelines, reflecting a sharp increase from 57 percent in 2025.
Furthermore, 88 percent of districts reported having some kind of AI initiative underway, and only 19 percent said their AI approach remains undefined.
Confidence in AI’s positive potential also remains high, as 96 percent of leaders said they thought AI could benefit education.
“In just one year, education technology leaders have become strikingly more optimistic about AI’s potential, nearly doubling their confidence in areas like productivity and personalized learning and showing especially sharp gains in student tutoring and workforce readiness,” the report said.
VENDOR ACCOUNTABILITY AS GOVERNANCE
According to CoSN’s survey, districts are increasingly using procurement as a mechanism for AI governance and accountability in practice. The report noted that 56 percent of respondents said their districts require vendors to provide specific information on product safety before adoption, indicating that baseline purchasing practices around product safety have become common.
However, while safety information is requested by the majority of districts, the report showed that far fewer districts require “key education technology quality indicators” like evidence-based design, inclusivity, interoperability or usability metrics from their vendors. CoSN identified this as an opportunity to further strengthen and standardize procurement practices.
“As the framework of the Five EdTech Quality Indicators becomes more widely known, and expectations for meeting accessibility requirements are more broadly understood, districts are well-positioned to refine adoption criteria in ways that support high-quality education technology implementation,” CoSN’s report said, adding that while K-12 leaders are beginning to treat AI vendors as long-term institutional partners responsible for student data, the frameworks used to vet those partners are still in a nascent stage.
STRONG FOUNDATIONAL CAPACITY, BUT WITH IMPLEMENTATION GAPS
The report painted a mixed picture regarding the readiness of district staff to support these technological shifts. On one hand, districts showed a fortified capacity for the continuing digital transformation of schools, with 66 percent of respondents reporting adequate staffing for core IT functions such as network administration, application installation and maintenance. On the other hand, 58 percent of respondents reported that their districts were understaffed when it comes to the actual instructional use of technology, suggesting that while operational foundations for tech are largely in place, schools may struggle to realize the instructional benefits of AI and digital learning tools due to limited educator-facing support and professional development.
Many surveyed ed-tech leaders also cited budget constraints and organizational silos as significant challenges to implementing tech-enabled learning environments.
“Properly maintaining a complex and constantly evolving technology ecosystem requires predictable and sustainable funding. Unanticipated budget expenses, such as increases in server costs, add to the financial pressure,” the report said. “The lack of technology planning created by silos — with silos cited as one of the top three challenges in nine of 13 years of survey data — is a likely contributor to education technology budget issues.”
