Overview
- The Los Angeles Unified School Board unanimously approved the policy on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, and will ban in-school device use for preschool through 1st grade starting August 2026 with further limits phased in November 2026 and January 2027.
- Under the rules, 2nd–3rd graders get about 20 minutes a day, 4th–5th graders about 30 minutes a day, middle schoolers are limited to one hour per class per week (roughly six hours weekly), and high schoolers to 90 minutes per class per week with a roughly 10-hour weekly cap.
- The policy preserves exceptions for computer-heavy subjects, district and state assessments, and students with disabilities, and it bans student-led streaming and device use at lunch and recess except for approved work.
- LAUSD will deploy software to log and block device use, review existing technology contracts (including services tied to vendors like Google), and estimates one-time purchases for laptop carts plus ongoing monitoring costs.
- Supporters call the plan a potential model for other districts while critics and district analysts warn it could worsen digital-equity gaps, spur heavy administrative monitoring in classrooms, and leave open questions about AI use and vendor constraints.