LAUSD draft – A draft Los Angeles Unified School District plan would ban school-required digital screens for students until second grade, with tighter limits starting gradually for older grades. The proposal, set for board discussion before returning for approval, aims to c
By the time Los Angeles Unified School District directors moved through the agenda Tuesday, the debate had shifted from whether screens belong in classrooms to how far and how fast the district should pull them back.
A draft plan would ban computers and other digital screens for students in preschool through first grade. with the ban beginning at the start of the school year this fall. The restriction would then expand in phases for older grades across the 2026-27 school year. including later starts for middle and high schools.
The timing is not just about education priorities. Chief Academic Officer Frances Baez said the district needs time to develop a way to monitor how much technology students are using. The plan is also careful about boundaries at home: it would not change district policy on students’ personal cellphones. because their use is already prohibited on campus.
For grades two through five, the proposed limits begin in November. For middle and high schools, the limits would begin in January 2027.
Under the draft, preschool through first grade would face outright bans—except for students with special needs and for required assessments. For grades two and three, the proposed screen-time limit is 20 minutes per day. For grades four and five, the proposed screen-time limit is 30 minutes per day.
Inside classrooms, administrators say access to computers could remain flexible. Students could use a computer for each student, share devices, or access computers only through a computer lab. In grades six through eight. the policy would shift from strict limits to recommendations. with 60 to 120 minutes per day of screen time recommended. For grades nine through 12, the recommendation would rise to 90 to 180 minutes per day.
Board member Nick Melvoin—who is the author of the screen-time resolution—raised concerns about how complicated those upper-grade rules could be. Students move from class to class, and different teachers could have different computer needs that conflict with one another. Melvoin also wanted a thorough review of district technology contracts and their uses.
The plan contains additional boundaries: computer use would be off-limits between classes, and during lunch and recess.
Even with the tightened rules, the district says middle and high school students would still have access to their own district-issued computers. District leaders said this could matter for families who do not have internet access at home other than through a cellphone.
A proposed guideline would also set new limits on student internet access, prioritizing “curriculum-aligned tools” to avoid distractions from learning. Although the draft policy does not name specific platforms. the board’s April resolution authorized a ban or limits on student access to YouTube and gaming platforms Roblox and Fortnite. The staff presentation referenced YouTube as being blocked by default but accessible by teachers for instructional purposes.
Teachers would also face guardrails. The draft policy makes clear that educators should not authorize students to use computers for fun—for example—if they finish academic work early or complete it especially well.
The district’s estimates include $4 million for 3,100 charging carts needed to store and transport computers. Previously, computers stayed with students, so fewer storage carts were needed.
At the board meeting. the discussion landed on a wider shift in education culture: after decades of expanding online instruction and putting computers in students’ hands every day. at home and on campus. resistance has been growing. That push has come both locally and nationwide as parents and advocates argue that screens have come to dominate the daily lives of children and teens.
Experts cited in the discussion link excessive screen time to academic, physical, and emotional harm, focusing mainly on time outside of schoolwork, including gaming and social media videos and scrolling.
What’s different now is that the district is targeting screen time that is part of the essential academic program.
The sequence of proposals and the timetable reflect that tension. The district is moving toward tighter classroom rules. but it is also building its enforcement capacity—an issue that helps explain why some limits would not begin until November for grades two through five and January 2027 for middle and high school.
For the parents who have been pushing the district to rethink its relationship with technology, that caution is both encouraging and unsettling.
Rachel Zernik, a parent involved in the debate, wants the screen ban to extend beyond first grade, perhaps up to fifth grade. Bridie Lee, a parent at Ivanhoe Elementary in Silver Lake, wants the new policy to take effect—with more restrictions—for all grades starting this fall.
Tuesday’s presentation also set the Los Angeles district’s draft alongside efforts elsewhere. Educators and lawmakers in more than a dozen other states are considering legislation or have already taken action. In March, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill requiring the state education board to create a model policy on balanced technology use in the classroom. For kindergarten through third grade, the Utah law prohibits taking home a school computer. It also bans all screen time except for academic instruction in computer science and for state assessments.
Alabama lawmakers have enacted screen-time limitations as well.
In Connecticut, a small number of school districts have taken independent steps, including blocking or limiting students’ YouTube access. In California, San Marcos has blocked YouTube for elementary students. Starting this year, Fresno elementary students returned their take-home laptops, shifting computer access to in-class only.
The Los Angeles Unified draft policy will return to the board for approval at a later meeting. For now, it offers a clear test of how quickly schools can curb screen dependence—without losing the instructional tools districts say many students rely on.
LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District screen time ban computers in schools classroom technology student cellphone policy YouTube access Roblox Fortnite Frances Baez Nick Melvoin charging carts