Young people spend a lot of time on their tablets and phones. But they’re not just playing Roblox or scrolling through TikTok – they’re logging into educational programs and finishing homework assignments too. And for some parents, that’s a problem.
“Many of us [parents] are working hard to reduce screen time at home only to discover they are waiting for our children when they get to school, ” Shareef Stratton, a father of two young girls, said at a meeting.
Last week, the San Diego Unified School District board voted unanimously to approve an amendment that will restrict technology use in the classroom for more than 100,000 students in a series of phases, beginning this summer and ending next spring.
Board President Richard Barrera and Trustee Shana Hazan wrote the amendment in response to complaints received over time from parents and advocacy groups such as Schools Beyond Screens San Diego about excessive screen time in the classroom.
Barrera agreed.
“We’ve got technology that’s currently being used in our schools that’s actually hurting our young people,” Barrera said, “and it’s certainly not contributing to student learning.”
“We’re going to get those technologies out,” Barrera said, “but we want to do it the right way, with the right voices.”
Technology began to be integrated into student learning in 2009. The voter-backed Proposition S funded the i21 initiative to equip students and teachers with educational devices like tablets and laptops. The district aimed to fill approximately 20% of classrooms per year with a suite of new technology tools.
Then came take-home devices, which were necessary during the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of devices were handed to California students with $5.3 billion in state and federal backing.
Now, though, a growing body of research suggests that excessive technology use can negatively affect student productivity and mental health. SDUSD last year joined other California districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, in limiting cellphones on campus, under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Phone-Free School Act, marking the first official step toward curbing technology in schools.
The SDUSD phone-free school day policy took effect for the 2025-2026 school year, placing limits on cell phone use during school hours. While students weren’t necessarily happy about the policy, teachers and parents noticed the difference and sought out greater limitations to encourage student participation in the classroom.
“I think it’s a necessary policy,” Pershing Middle School Principal Melanie Kray said, “It’s been helpful for educators.”
The screen time resolution comes at a time when students spend significant time online, using apps such as YouTube before, during and after school.
The board amendment includes a range of policies to be implemented throughout the coming year, including:
- Prohibiting video-streaming platforms (YouTube) on personal 1:1 devices
- Removing computer carts from transitional kindergarten (TK) classrooms
- Establishing on/off hours on district-issued Chromebooks
- Restricting the use of software with AI functions
A lot of the specifics, though, remain to be decided. Some of these policies are subject to the evaluation of a task force created by the district, including committees of students, parents, teachers, district administrators and researchers who will determine how much screen time is necessary for each grade level.
“The big recommendations that the task force makes that involve changing district policy will ultimately come back to the school board, and the school board will have the final say,” Barrera said.
The district will use the 2026-27 school year to determine which policies should become permanent for the 2027-28 school year.
A representative from Schools Beyond Screens San Diego’s leadership said the group wants a “learner-centered education” that only uses technology when necessary.
The group has created a petition calling on the district to adopt a research-backed framework to clearly evaluate tech use, implement opt-out procedures and publicly disclose its technology investments.
In July 2025 alone, SDUSD spent almost $1 million on one educational technology service, Arey Jones Educational Solutions. Parents and teachers expressed their problems with the contract, and others like it, at last week’s meeting.
“What concerns me even more is that ed tech companies have enormous financial incentives to get their products into classrooms as early as possible,” Stratton said. Meanwhile, he added, children bear the risk.
When Ashley Stojan, a TK teacher at Joyner Elementary, asked for greater investments in physical educational materials, she was told the district would not reduce its spending in educational technology.
“There are things in the resolution that they would want to happen faster than what’s in the resolution right now,” Barrera said, acknowledging that some of the critics want changes to happen in a faster timeframe than the board is willing to support.
An early assessment of the district’s actions will take place in January 2027 and an annual review will be completed by May 2027. In the meantime, the task force will meet monthly.
Alina Nguyen, a student representative on the SDUSD board, shared her peers’ thoughts about the policy in a discussion before the vote.
“When I speak with students, I often hear that technology is an essential part of how they learn,” Nguyen said, adding that it helps students to stay organized and complete assignments inside and outside the classroom.
Nguyen said students are interacting with these devices each day so they are the ones who can best speak to the impact of educational technology.
