Florida is taking a big step to put parent choice at the center of its efforts to restrict the use of artificial intelligence in schools under new rules approved by the state board of education Sept. 16.
The new rules are part of a growing movement across the country to dial back the use of technology—and not just AI—in schools. Many parents across the country also want to see restrictions on screen time in school and use of platforms like YouTube.
Notably, the state’s approach calls for schools to proactively seek parent approval to use the technology for teaching and learning—opt-in instead of opt-out.
Florida’s move also comes as the nation’s two largest school districts—New York and Los Angeles—have placed at least partial bans on generative AI for students in response to a wave of parent concerns.
Florida—a Republican controlled-state that’s long embraced school choice—framed its AI policy as “parent-centered” in a press release explaining the move.
But the Sunshine State—and any states or districts that follow its lead—shouldn’t expect that restricting AI alone will quell the wave of parent anti-tech sentiment known as “techlash,” experts and parent advocates leading the movement to curtail technology say.
“Banning AI does not get school districts out of having to deal with the overuse of ed tech generally in their schools,” said Meg Leta Jones, a professor at Georgetown University who studies the impact of technology on families. “It’s not going to get them out of that conversation, though AI is going to be an inevitable part” of those discussions.
Parents questioning the role of ed tech in schools also have qualms about screen time in general—particularly YouTube—as well as personalized learning platforms that do not use generative AI but use adaptive technologies that present students with questions that their teachers don’t have a chance to review ahead of time, Jones added.
Under Florida’s new rules, district polices must call for notifying parents about AI learning tools, including the name of the tool, what courses it will be used for, and how students will interact with it. Parents will then get to decide between any AI platform, and an alternative application that’s not AI-powered.
The state is also outlawing AI tools—including so-called “companion chatbots"—designed to address students’ social and emotional needs.
Some educators, though, wonder if taking big steps like banning generative AI is the right call, given the wide variety of potential uses for artificial intelligence in education.
A student viewing inappropriate images on a large language model is very different from a kid using a generative AI platform with built-in, age-appropriate protections to create illustrations for a book project, for example, said Julie Kuzma, an elementary school technology coach in Virginia’s Loudon County.
District and school leaders should get to the root of parents’ concerns and offer them more details about how educators use AI in their child’s learning before enacting a broad ban, she recommended.
“If I was doing a forum with a group of parents that were unhappy about AI and wanted it banned, I’d want to know why,” she said. She suggested asking: “How is it hurting the students? Is it taking away higher rigor? Is it taking away creativity? I would want to know what part of it is” problematic in their view.
Parent concerns about screen time and video use persist
Parents leading the anti-technology movement in New York and Los Angeles argue that even though their districts have temporarily pumped the brakes on AI, there’s plenty left on the to-do list.
“I don’t know a single parent who’s washing their hands and are like, ‘We’re done. This is great!’” said Kelly Clancy, a New York City public school mom and the leader of Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces, a grassroots organization.
That’s partly because New York’s AI moratorium is only a one-year pause, Clancy said. She’s also concerned that teacher AI use will continue under New York’s policy—which could lead to data collection problems—and high schoolers will continue using generative AI, albeit on a limited basis.
Los Angeles placed significant limits on screen time before the start of the school year. But those limitations did not deal with generative AI specifically, so parent groups pushed for more.
Lila Byock, a Los Angeles parent and the founder of Schools Beyond Screens, a grassroots coalition of families concerned about the impact of technology on student learning and mental health, agreed that “it’s hard to pick [one thing and say], ‘this is the most important thing we’re pushing for.’”
Byock added: “It’s all united under the umbrella of, the tech companies have too much power over what’s happening in our classrooms.”
Some districts have moved to address other technology concerns.
At least two New York City council members are seeking to prohibit schools from using YouTube, gamified learning platforms, and individual devices for elementary school students, the Wall Street Journal reported. These council members are also interested in shifting assessments back to pencil and paper.
The District of Columbia public schools set weekly recommended limits at the beginning of this school year on the time students in elementary school spend on a particular personalized learning and assessment platform and disabled the use of YouTube on digital devices used by elementary schoolers.
The U.S. Department of Education, however, recommends that schools focus on whether ed-tech tools offer “educational value” for students, as opposed to only considering how much time students spend on digital learning platforms.
That’s a recommendation Florida, which did not set specific screen-time limits, seeks to embrace, according to the state’s statement.
Surveys show mixed feelings among parents about AI and technology in schools
Schools Beyond Screens, one of the most prominent grassroots advocacy organizations for parents and caregivers pushing back against ed tech nationally, has seen its network of like-minded groups explode since the beginning of the calendar year, from about a couple dozen to more than 200, Byock said.
But not all parents share those views. National surveys indicate that parents and caregivers have mixed feelings about both AI and tech in general in schools.
More than half of educators who work for public school districts—61%—say that most parents and caregivers feel there’s too much technology in schools, compared with 37% who say families feel the amount of technology in schools is “just right,” according to a survey of 596 district and school leaders and teachers conducted by the EdWeek Research Center in February and March.
And parents are divided about the possible impact of AI in the classroom.
About 1 in 5 parents believe the potential downsides of using AI in education outweigh the potential benefits, according to a survey conducted in February by Echelon Insights, a digital polling organization, on behalf of the National Parents Union, a nonprofit parent advocacy organization that seeks to raise the influence of parents’ voices in K-12 decisionmaking.
A similar proportion—18%—believe the possible benefits of AI outweigh the negatives, the same survey found. And more than half of parents—52%—believe that the benefits and downsides are about equal.
