Last school year, Mercer Island High School gave its students a Google Gemini subscription. This year, the only artificial intelligence tool on our school computers is NotebookLM, a note-taking tool. Giving every student Gemini last year was far ahead of the game. But this year, the district has pulled back, leaving students little access to the tools of the future. Washington must build a statewide baseline that ensures each student becomes AI-literate while still giving teachers power to decide how AI fits their class. If the decision is left to districts each year, some students learn AI and some don’t, the latter entering the rest of their lives unprepared.

Many schools restrict students’ use of AI to prevent cheating and to protect critical thinking skills.…