Extra Credit Question: How is AI Impacting K-12 HR?

If you’ve reviewed any education publication, attended a conference, or joined a webinar in the last year, you’ve likely heard about one of the hottest topics in education- Artificial Intelligence (AI).  

As one of the trending topics in education, this evolving technology has impacted the K-12 space from all angles. AI is not only used in the classroom setting but can also be used to help with efficiencies in administrative responsibilities. The use of AI is only increasing. According to Forbes (2025), 378 million people will use AI this year.   

Today, with limited time and resources, K–12 teams are turning to AI to enhance and streamline their hiring practices, job descriptions, and more. In fact, findings in the 2025 Global Guide to AI Hiring (Hirevue, 2025) notes that 72% of HR professionals are using AI. This is already a significant jump in usage from the 58% who reported using AI in 2024.  

AI appears to offer greater efficiency and data-driven insights in certain tasks for HR teams. At the same time, its use raises important questions around transparency and the human touch that’s essential in education. For HR teams, the key is figuring out how to take advantage of the benefits while staying mindful of the challenges. 

Here’s how AI can help lighten the load for HR department leaders.  

Job Posting and Interviewing 

AI tools can analyze job descriptions and suggest enhancements to improve clarity and optimize keywords, so the posting reaches the target audience, and does so faster. Once you are ready to schedule interviews with candidates for the open positions in your school or district, it’s time to coordinate schedules. Back-and-forth emails to schedule interviews can take hours, causing delays for positions that often need to be filled promptly. AI-powered scheduling assistants can help to coordinate interview times, send reminders, and provide candidates with next steps. A recent article from Education Week (2025) shares how a school district has utilized AI to help efficiently write interview questions for open positions. For example, they have implemented ongoing AI workshops to support their team, answer questions, and showcase capabilities of AI. On a recent podcast through the American Association of School Personnel Administrators (AASPA, 2024), Dr. Dale Fisher highlighted some of the other ways HR professionals can be using AI to streamline job functions, save time, and gain valuable insights to enhance decision making. These include everything from onboarding to predictive analytics.  

Onboarding  

Once your newest team member has been hired, it’s time to onboard! In a recent post from Coursera (2025), it is suggested that AI can be used to help generate personalized onboarding and training documents for team members. Additionally, an AI chatbot can be implemented to answer questions to provide ongoing support. Across industries, Business Insider (2025) reports that some HR teams are also using AI to help develop employee compensation packages to be the most competitive. 

Performance Management and Predictive Analytics  

When looking at teacher and staff evaluations, goal setting, and tracking, AI can also be a valuable tool. Fisher (2024) notes that AI also has the potential to provide professional development that is more data driven and tailored with insights personalized to each individual. In fact, SHRM (2024) found that of HR leaders across industries, 46% utilize AI tools to help develop and steer employee goal setting. Leaders can also automate their data collection process to save time and make decisions to inform performance management best practices. Furthermore, this tool can be used to align staff assignments with evolving enrollment numbers and educational demands. The predictive analytics have the potential to support succession planning and role mapping to anticipate staffing trends. 

Training and Trends 

Speaking of trends, ongoing training and resources dedicated to AI are already underway in many districts, and you can expect more to come. Time (2025) reported that earlier this year, the American Federation of Teachers shared the launch of an AI training hub for educators with support from organizations like Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic. A timely launch, as AI training is a growing need within the education space. A survey shared by RAND (2025) found that half of the districts surveyed reported providing teacher training on AI in the fall of 2024. This has doubled from the previous year. 

As this technology continues to develop, training is vital for the success of your team. The New York Times (2025) recently showcased Miami-Dade County Public Schools for their successful AI training workshops. These have been led by their technology team to their 17,000 teachers to keep educators engaged in this growing technology. Recent findings from HireVue (2025) and shared by Staffing Industry Analysts, indicate that overall confidence and trust in AI tools is also on the rise.  

So, with all of this talk of AI, what are the real benefits, and what should administrators consider? 

Benefits 

The use of AI can certainly be a timesaver, and professionals are expecting even greater time savings in coming years. A survey by Thomson Reuters indicates that professionals anticipate AI to save them up to 12 hours per week by 2029, equating to approximately 200 hours annually. For those that have already adopted AI into their practices, latest reports have found that HR leaders are seeing a 63% boost in productivity.  

When it comes to further time savings strategies for HR teams, Helios is here to help. Did you know that on average, it takes 1 to 2 hours for HR staff to process traditional onboarding paperwork? This time is cut by up to 90% with the help of Helios. Going paperless with e-forms approvals cuts through processing time. Electronic files and workflows with e-signatures give easy access to information. Helios also offers over 100 built-in, single-click reports that save teams days in compiling time. 

Considerations 

While AI offers many benefits, it is not without challenges and other considerations. An article from MIT (Zewe, 2025) highlights the environmental impacts of AI, including water consumption and significant demands of electricity. Forbes (2025) provides recommendations and best practices for AI usage to limit environmental impacts. These recommendations include enhancing efficiency in software and hardware energy consumption, as well as fostering a culture of responsible AI practices.  

Additionally, one of the greatest considerations with respect to AI usage is around security concerns. Recent data (Hirevue, 2025) found that one of the top concerns related to AI adoption is potential security risks with 47% of individuals expressing this concern. This makes choices of what data to share, and what to keep private, important discussions amongst districts nationwide as best practices are established. Additional concerns and considerations remain around the overall validity of data curated by AI and relying too heavily on this technology.  

Best Practices (And We’re Just Getting Started) 

When exploring the functionality of AI in your HR department, professionals across industries advise leaders to take inventory of their current processes to see how and where this tool can make the greatest positive impact. Many schools and districts are actively promoting AI usage best practices to offer guidance for responsible utilization of AI tools. Developing clear guidelines on AI usage is crucial to ensure ethical implementation and ongoing usage. Schools and districts can create policies that outline acceptable use, data privacy considerations, disclosure of AI’s usage in various processes (like candidate interviews), as well as the role of AI in decision-making processes.  

Resources like Michigan Virtual’s Sample Guidance on Staff Use of Generative AI for K-12 School Districts offers recommendations to help ensure the safety and productivity of K–12 schools. This includes sample guidelines on responsible data stewardship, types of data, and best practices. Some of these include assessing the impact, evaluating critically, keeping informed, and ensuring goal alignment with your school or district.

Final Thoughts  

While there are both pros and cons to AI usage, it is important to review best practices when exploring or implementing AI tools in K-12 operations. Professionals across industries emphasize the importance of using AI as a tool to support decisions, not make them. AI isn’t here to replace HR professionals, but rather, to empower them. 

From automating repetitive tasks, to establishing the most effective interview questions, AI allows K–12 HR teams to focus on what matters most: building strong, supportive teams that serve students. By embracing these tools thoughtfully and strategically, school districts can create more efficient, responsive, and future-ready HR practices. As with any new technological advancement, there are also many questions to answer. Luckily, when it comes to education, we are all eager to learn and find those answers together.