Titled Operational AI in Education: Readiness, Realities and the Road Ahead, the report surveyed 281 CoSN members between June 19 and July 18, 2025. Its findings highlight both momentum as well as significant gaps in readiness as districts experiment with AI outside the classroom.
SCALE, DEPTH OF AI ADOPTION
According to CoSN, 72 percent of survey respondents reported leveraging AI technology 10 percent or less of the time. Additionally, the report found that only 3 percent of districts say AI supports more than half of their processes, suggesting that while AI is present in many schools, it is still at the pilot stage rather than deeply embedded.
The report also showed that the need for ample network security measures is what most drives districts to adopt AI, “with a majority (65%) citing security threat detection as a top use case.”
LEADERSHIP
The report revealed district leaders are paying close attention to AI, but most lack an implementation road map.
About three-quarters (76 percent) of respondents said their district leaders facilitate and make recommendations for AI use. The majority are in the early stages: 41 percent are engaging in preliminary discussions about AI in schools, 23 percent report emerging visions for AI at the district level, and 12 percent report having “clear direction on oversight.”
Additionally, about 22 percent of surveyed CoSN members said their “district leadership is not focused on operational AI.”
“Given the early and evolving state of leadership, considerable opportunities exist to increase district leaders’ understanding of AI’s potential to improve operations,” the report said.
DISTRICT READINESS
CoSN’s report paints a picture of school systems that are curious about AI’s operational potential but far from ready to scale.
Half of respondents (52 percent) said they are exploring what problems AI might solve for their districts, while only 5 percent report that AI is actively solving operational challenges.
But one of the starkest readiness gaps lies in data: 61 percent of districts said they still have “dirty and/or siloed data,” and “only 1% state that their data is fully prepared and secure for AI use.”
Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed said their technology infrastructure is “mostly ready with gaps,” and 28 percent reported “some upgrades needed.” Just 16 percent claimed to be “fully ready with needed tools and systems.”
While 35 percent of respondents “assessed their AI implementation as mostly secure with some concerns,” confidence in cybersecurity readiness appears extremely limited, with only 7 percent expressing full confidence that AI use is aligned with cybersecurity best practices.
Legal and compliance readiness remains nascent: 43 percent have “some awareness” of legal/risk issues and 20 percent have conducted reviews, but 21 percent “have not addressed” those questions at all.
In terms of workforce readiness, 15 percent of respondents consider their IT staff “completely unprepared,” while only 8 percent say their IT workforce is “well prepared.” On the broader academic side, 10 percent consider themselves “well prepared” with ongoing AI literacy support.
Together, these readiness metrics show that while districts are opening doors to AI in operations, they have significant gaps to close before scaling.
“Generally, district readiness across all integration factors is in the emerging stages,” CoSN said in the report. “Until districts can address these readiness gaps, the potential of AI to streamline operations will remain largely unrealized.”
