OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT for Teachers to 55 additional U.S. school systems across 20 states, adding more than 100,000 educators and staff. That brings the program to more than 100 K–12 organizations across 30 states, with free access and training for over 300,000 educators and staff. The new cohort includes 1 in 5 of America’s 20 largest public school districts and some of the country’s most diverse school systems. OpenAI also announced a 16-state National Data Privacy Agreement through the Student Data Privacy Consortium framework, which gives districts a common path to evaluate ChatGPT for Teachers against student data privacy requirements without negotiating separate agreements district by district. Signed General Offers cover Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington; California is covered by a separate agreement. ChatGPT for Teachers remains free for verified U.S. K–12 educators through June 2028 and is available only to administrators, faculty, and educators.

The program’s design emphasizes responsible adoption: data shared in a ChatGPT for Teachers workspace is not used to train models by default, and district leaders can use managed workspaces with role-based controls intended to support schools’ FERPA requirements. OpenAI says access alone will not be enough as AI moves toward increasingly complex, multi-step workflows, so the shared implementation model includes hands-on training, support for district leaders, peer learning across school systems, and ongoing guidance. Feedback from districts helps OpenAI understand what educators and administrators need next. Leah Belsky, OpenAI‘s Vice President of Education, said the goal is to give teachers time, training, and a community to learn from one another.

Educator usage data from a privacy-preserving OpenAI analysis covering January 1 to July 16 showed more than 1.9 million messages related to time-saving tasks: about 900,000 about report cards and progress reports, 800,000 about lesson planning, and over 100,000 each about substitute plans and teacher-evaluation materials. The K-12 Educator plugin supports work like lesson planning, adapting materials, analyzing information, and creating classroom resources, while giving leaders administrative controls and education-grade privacy and security protections. Training continues through OpenAI Academy, district partnerships, and a five-year National Academy for AI Instruction with the American Federation of Teachers aimed at equipping 400,000 K–12 educators with practical AI skills.

This summer, more than 1,600 teachers, administrators, and district leaders are taking part in hands-on AI Skills Jams hosted by OpenAI Academy with the Walton Family Foundation. Examples from sessions include a Fairfax elementary music teacher building a planning resource from her curriculum, grading policies, and district regulations; a Jonesboro fourth-grade teacher shortening lengthy lesson plans into focused 30- to 40-minute lessons; Chicago educators simulating science experiments, supporting student animation projects, and analyzing more than 200 novels for representation gaps; and a San Bernardino principal using ChatGPT for a scheduling task that could otherwise have taken hours or days. Across the first Skills Jams, 93% of participants said they left with something they could use again, and 96% said they planned to apply what they learned within 30 days. The post also includes a list of new district partners.