From phones, to school-issued laptops and AI, here’s how Utah schools are changing their rules

This story was originally published by Utah News Dispatch.

With smartphones, laptops and artificial intelligence becoming almost inescapable technologies in Utah public schools, state lawmakers passed a suite of bills aiming to not only mitigate students’ screen time on their personal devices, but also to expand oversight on online content for their school devices.

A major legislative proposal, which Gov. Spencer Cox requested and blessed, was put forward in a bill by South Jordan Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore establishing a universal bell-to-bell cellphone and smart device default ban in K-12 public schools, which school districts could decide to reverse or modify.

Getting to a full school day ban took several legislative sessions, an initial law making a phone prohibition the default policy for class time, and carving out a local control provision for districts that wish to go another way.

“We have led the nation when it comes to social media regulation, and again, protecting our kids. There was only one place where we were a little bit behind the rest of the country, and that was on bell-to-bell. We were able to get a phone ban during class time last year. But we now have a bell-to-bell ban,” Cox said during a news conference the last night of the general session.

Cox is still reviewing hundreds of bills and hasn’t signed this proposal. However, this is one that he said he “can’t wait” to get on his desk to get it signed.

The phone policy has been a well-known change coming to classrooms this year. But, legislators are also establishing rules on how students interact with now-ubiquitous technologies, including a parent-approved “white list” of websites their Chromebooks are allowed to access, and an opportunity for children in rural districts to do their homework from their school buses.

A ‘White List’ of Content

Most Utah students have access to a Chromebook during the school day and come July 1, public schools are poised to be required to have monitoring systems allowing parents to check how long their kids spend in front of their screens and the history of websites they have visited through an online portal.

Parents may also request that their school districts implement a content-filtering system that only allows access to certain pre-approved sites from their kids’ school laptops. A “white list” of websites available to students, rather than “a black list” of forbidden platforms.

The bill passed the Legislature and is waiting for the governor’s signature to become law.

During a past committee hearing, Fillmore, the bill sponsor, said the goal is to increase “openness and transparency” around the technologies Utah students are using in their classrooms.

“Probably not every student in the state has access to a Chromebook during the school day but it is awfully close now to every student in school having a Chromebook or a computer as part of the regular task of learning,” Fillmore said. “And I think there’s growing awareness, just like there is with cellphones, that that pendulum has swung too far, and we just need to get that in the right balance.”

Wi-Fi in Rural School Buses

Those laptops that most Utah students have are also the tool they use to do a submit their homework, Morgan Republican Rep. Tiara Auxier said during a presentation of a bill she successfully sponsored to allow rural schools to retrofit school buses to host internet connectivity during long rides.

According to Auxier, many rural school students spend hours commuting to their extracurricular activities and competitions. By the time they get home, it’s already late at night, but they still have to catch up on homework.

“As a school kid, when I played sports, I could do my homework on the bus with a pen and a paper and get it done,” Auxier said, “and our kids don’t have that same luxury, because everything is online and submitted through Chromebooks.”

Her bill, which was approved by the Legislature and is waiting for Cox’s final nod, would provide grants to buy the internet equipment for buses of high schools that commit to maintain the ongoing costs of the Wi-Fi connection. Only school-issued devices would be allowed to connect, Auxier said.

The legislation would cost the state $663,500 once in 2027. Rural school districts can get $4,230 to $4,700 per bus for the equipment and the first year of connectivity service. 

AI in Classrooms

Legislators also passed a bill this year they hope can help balance the use of technology in classrooms, an issue that state leaders have debated for years. 

If Cox signs it into law, the proposal would require schools to establish certain technology standards and directs the Utah State Board of Education to create a model policy on the balanced use of technology and artificial intelligence in classrooms.

“Right now there are no requirements for AI in schools. So this is going to require there to be a policy,” Kaysville Republican Rep. Ariel Defay, the bill sponsor, told the House in a presentation.

Essentially, the legislation calls to embed AI into schools’ computer science standards, teaching children about the technology and how to have “positive interactions” with it, including warnings and lessons on how to use the systems as tools with a “human-centered approach,” Defay said. 

The policy schools adopt must ensure the technology students use is safe, legal and intentional, Defay said.

“We’ve seen the increase of technology, and we aren’t seeing technology translate into better student outcomes, so we want to just balance that with analog versions, teacher instruction, conversation, all the traditional methods of education that we know can be effective,” she said.

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