The robots aren’t coming to teach your kids—but they might help write the school rules.
That’s the reality in Mission, British Columbia, where the local school district has quietly revolutionized how it develops educational policies. Mission Public Schools is now leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline the often laborious process of policy creation, becoming one of the first Canadian school districts to openly embrace AI for governance work.
“What used to take weeks now takes days,” explains Angus Wilson, Superintendent of the Mission School District. “We’re essentially using AI as a research assistant that can quickly pull together policy frameworks, compare approaches across jurisdictions, and identify gaps we might have missed.”
The initiative began last fall when the district’s leadership team faced updating dozens of outdated policies while creating new frameworks for emerging issues like student privacy in the digital age. Rather than hiring expensive consultants or overloading existing staff, they turned to large language models to assist their policy committee.
The process isn’t about replacing human judgment. Instead, AI serves as a first-draft generator and research tool that still requires substantial human oversight and modification. The district emphasizes that every AI-assisted policy undergoes multiple reviews by administrators, teachers, parents, and the school board before implementation.
“We’re careful to verify everything,” Wilson notes. “The technology helps organize information and presents options based on best practices across Canada, but we still make the decisions about what’s right for our community.”
Education policy experts call the approach promising but caution that AI implementation requires careful consideration. Dr. Maryam Najafi, an education technology researcher at the University of British Columbia, sees both potential and pitfalls.
“School districts are facing increasing complexity with limited resources,” Najafi explains. “AI can help process the growing mountain of educational research and regulatory requirements, but districts need clear protocols to ensure the technology aligns with local values and doesn’t introduce unintended biases.”
Mission’s approach could offer a template for other Canadian school districts struggling with policy workloads. Traditionally, developing comprehensive policies on issues like student assessment, digital citizenship, or emergency procedures requires extensive research into provincial requirements, consultation with stakeholders, and multiple drafting sessions.
The AI-assisted approach doesn’t eliminate these steps but accelerates them. For example, when developing a new policy on student data privacy, the district used AI to compile regulations from the BC Ministry of Education, FOIPPA requirements, and approaches from other jurisdictions. The technology synthesized these inputs into a draft that the policy committee could refine rather than creating from scratch.
Parent Advisory Council (PAC) members initially expressed concern about AI’s role in shaping policies that affect their children. “When I first heard ‘AI policy development,’ I imagined robots deciding how my kids would be educated,” admits Jennifer Torres, a Mission parent with two children in the district. “But after seeing the process, I understand it’s more like having a very efficient research intern helping the adults make better decisions.”
The financial implications are significant for resource-stretched public schools. Mission estimates the approach has reduced policy development costs by approximately 40%, primarily by decreasing the hours staff dedicate to research and drafting. Those savings allow the district to redirect resources to implementation efforts, including teacher training and parent communication.
Not everyone views these changes as positive. The BC Teachers’ Federation has expressed caution about AI’s expanding role in education. “Policy development should center human expertise and community values,” says Maria Connelly, a BCTF representative. “We need to ensure that efficiency doesn’t come at the expense of properly considering the nuanced realities of classrooms.”
The district acknowledges these concerns and has established guardrails. All AI-generated content is clearly marked in internal drafts, and a “human-in-the-loop” requirement ensures multiple educators review each suggestion. The district also regularly audits the system’s outputs for potential biases or gaps in reasoning.
Beyond efficiency, the most interesting outcomes may be qualitative. Trustees report that AI-assisted policies tend to be more comprehensive and consistent with provincial frameworks. The technology excels at identifying potential scenarios that human policymakers might overlook and ensuring language is accessible to parents and students.
The Mission experiment raises broader questions about AI’s role in Canadian education. As provinces grapple with updating curricula to prepare students for an AI-infused workforce, administrators are simultaneously exploring how the same technologies can improve educational systems themselves.
“There’s a certain irony,” notes Dr. Najafi. “We’re teaching students to thoughtfully navigate AI tools while we’re learning to do the same ourselves. The Mission approach demonstrates both the promise and the learning curve involved.”
BC’s Ministry of Education is watching these developments closely but hasn’t yet established province-wide guidelines for AI in administrative functions. This regulatory gap means districts like Mission are essentially creating their own best practices, which may eventually inform broader policy frameworks.
For Mission parents and students, the impact remains behind the scenes for now. Most wouldn’t notice the difference in how a policy on field trip safety or technology use was developed. Yet the district believes these changes allow them to be more responsive to emerging issues while maintaining educational quality.
“The goal isn’t to use AI for its own sake,” Wilson emphasizes. “It’s about creating better policies that support student success, with less administrative burden. If we can do that responsibly, everyone benefits.”
As Canadian schools navigate post-pandemic challenges and technological transformation, Mission’s experiment offers an intriguing glimpse of education’s administrative future—one where artificial intelligence doesn’t replace teachers or administrators but helps them work more effectively for the students they serve.
