OpenAI is partnering 55 additional school systems to expand ChatGPT for Teachers in the US, bringing nearly 140,000 more educators and staff into its managed K-12 workspace.
The new programme that covers 20 states will give nearly 140,000 additional educators and staff free access, training and district-level implementation support.
Explaining the programme during an on-the-record call, OpenAI said the systems are part of a group of 103 partner organisations, rather than an addition to more than 100 existing partners.
Across 30 states, the programme now provides free access and training to more than 340,000 educators and staff.
ChatGPT for Teachers was launched in 2025 with nearly 150,000 teachers and staff. The latest cohort includes one in five of the 20 largest public school districts in the US, alongside Baltimore City, Northside ISD in San Antonio, Sarasota County and Virginia Beach.
OpenAI said the participating school systems serve more than two million students, but ChatGPT for Teachers does not provide accounts to those students.
“We are not opening any student accounts or asking schools to figure this out on their own,” said the company’s vice president of Education, Leah Belsky, during the call.
ChatGPT for Teachers is a managed workspace for verified US K-12 educators, school leaders and staff. OpenAI says information from education workspaces is not used to train its models, while districts can configure access, monitor activity and use role-based controls to meet their own policies and compliance requirements.
Administrators can provide different tools and access levels to particular groups. Districts also control which external systems are connected to the workspace, including any integrations with Google or Microsoft products.
Belsky said ChatGPT for Teachers is regularly updated so users can access OpenAI’s latest models as they become available.
OpenAI is also introducing a 15-state Data Privacy Agreement through the Student Data Privacy Consortium. The agreement is intended to give school systems in participating states an established route for evaluating and adopting ChatGPT for Teachers without negotiating separate terms district by district.
Training accompanies the free accounts
The partnerships cover more than software access. OpenAI’s implementation model includes practical training, support for district leaders, cross-district office hours and opportunities for school systems to compare approaches to AI use and governance.
“Access alone is not enough for educators,” Belsky said. She described a model in which teachers lead adoption, districts manage implementation and feedback from schools informs future development.
More than 1,600 teachers, administrators and district leaders participated in AI Skills Jams during summer 2026. The sessions were delivered through OpenAI Academy in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation and covered uses including lesson planning, curriculum materials, communications, administrative work and support for different student needs.
Figures supplied by OpenAI show that 93 percent of participants said they left with something they could use again, while 96 percent planned to apply what they had learned within 30 days. These figures capture participants’ responses after the training rather than subsequent use or effects in schools.
