On March 12, 2025, the Knight Institute filed public records lawsuit seeking records related to a Texas school district’s use of AI-powered technology to monitor students’ activity on school-issued laptops and tablets.

School districts’ use of AI-powered surveillance systems to monitor student activity on digital devices has become increasingly prevalent, with some estimating that nearly half of all K-12 students nationwide are subject to such monitoring. Despite the widespread use of these systems, there is little transparency about their efficacy or what safeguards, if any, exist to limit their use to deterring acts of violence or self-harm.

To learn more about how these systems are used—or misused—the Knight Institute submitted a Texas Public Information Act request to the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District. The district withheld key information about its use of surveillance systems, claiming it is statutorily exempted from disclosure. The Knight Institute filed this lawsuit to enforce its request.

Status: Complaint filed on March 12, 2025.

Case Information: Knight First Amendment Institute v. Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District, No.