From internet access to 1:1 devices, ed tech use in schools has grown at a rapid pace since Congress formed the Office of Educational Technology three decades ago within the U.S. Department of Education.
But now that OET is gone, former employees fear the office’s progress to push for equitable access to technology for students and teachers nationwide will be lost — particularly as the implementation of artificial intelligence tools accelerates.
The Trump administration informed all seven OET employees in a March 12 email that their positions and office were being “abolished” as the Education Department announced massive layoffs across the agency.
Just a couple weeks later, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of the Education Department. The move comes as the Trump administration aims both to reduce the overall size of the federal government and to give states more authority over their education systems.
The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment on OET’s closure.
When Kristina Ishmael, OET’s deputy director from October 2021 to December 2023, found out about the office’s closure, she said she felt “shock and surprise, as well as disappointment and anger.” Ishmael added that those feelings extended to the decimation of other Education Department offices as well.
OET’s role in guiding schools
OET’s responsibilities over the years, among many other things, included the development of six National Educational Technology Plans between 2000 and 2024.
The latest plan identified three persistent barriers to equity in ed tech to be addressed by education leaders at state, district and school levels. Those barriers included inequitable implementation of ed tech in classrooms, uneven availability of ed tech professional development opportunities for teachers, and gaps in students’ access to broadband connections, devices and digital content.
There is still a lot of work to do to address those inequities, Ishmael said.
Just months after ChatGPT debuted, OET began to release guidance on AI use in schools, focusing first on its impact on educators, and then on responsibilities for ed tech industry leaders and logistical concerns for school district leaders.
Beyond offering nonregulatory federal guidance, OET worked with multiple offices in the Education Department and other federal agencies. Additionally, OET acted as a point of contact for Congress to keep lawmakers informed about the state of ed tech in classrooms, according to former staff.
For instance, OET collaborated with the Office for Civil Rights when the Education Department released guidance last year on students’ civil rights protections regarding the use of AI tools in schools, said Anil Hurkadli, who held a one-year appointment as OET’s acting deputy director through Jan. 20.
“If we don’t have a really clear interpretation or articulation of how civil rights laws do indeed apply in the use of educational technology and educational settings, you create a lot of risk that districts and states are not procuring products and services in ways that are in alignment with those laws,” Hurkadli said.
The same issue applies to ed tech developers, Hurkadli said. If the industry creates tools without a clear understanding of civil rights laws, they also run the risk of violating students’ privacy and potentially compromising their sensitive data, he added.
OET served as a key convener for districts and states in the ed tech space, which also included student and teacher perspectives, Hurkadli said. For decades, the office leveraged its federal role to advocate both within the government and with external stakeholders for equitable access to ed tech in classrooms.
Without OET, there will be “a gaping hole in those efforts at a time when technology is accelerating at a pace where we can’t afford to lose ground,” Hurkadli said.
“The Office of Ed Tech has always been a lighthouse” on these issues, Ishmael said. Now that OET is no longer around to push for guidelines or guardrails, or to inform policymaking at the federal level, she said, the onus to address persistent issues with inequity and implementation will fall on state and school district leaders “who may not have that background or that expertise.”
OET’s loss ‘will slow us down’
With OET’s closure, online access to all of its publications and guidance for schools over the years has vanished. However, the European Edtech Alliance has archived OET’s work — including its AI resources and the National Educational Technology plans — which are now publicly accessible on the alliance’s website. The nonprofit supports global growth of digital education by connecting European ed tech organizations, trade associations and providers.
Even before the office closed, research had pointed to early signs of uneven and fragmented AI adoption across districts and states. In an April 1 House hearing, Democratic lawmakers voiced their concerns that this issue could worsen alongside the shuttering of OET.
Since generative AI tools first became available almost 2 1/2 years ago, over half of states have put out their own guidance on the technology, according to TeachAI, a national coalition that aims to guide schools on safe and ethical AI use.
That means the other half of states still lack AI guidance — and 40% of districts reported in a 2024 survey that they hadn't released their own AI policies, said Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking, in an email.
“Having thoughtful information from OET has helped move much of the country along with the historic opportunity, as well as key risks,” Krueger wrote. “But now the loss of federal leadership on ed tech will slow us down.”
The decision to close the office is “unprecedented,” and because it was established by Congress through the Technology for Education Act of 1994, Krueger said he “expects the courts will eventually determine that not staffing it is unlawful.”
