LRC Public Information Office
For Glasgow News 1
FRANKFORT — Legislation on screen time in the classroom could be in the works for the 2027 legislative session.
Lawmakers heard from critics of one-to-one digital technology usage in the classroom during the Interim Joint Committee on Education meeting on Monday.
Teacher turned neuroscientist Dr. Jared Horvath told the committee that research from more than 90 countries shows digital technology use in the classroom results in lower test scores.
In Kentucky, this is also true, he said. Kentucky began the transition to one-to-one in 2016. The year before Kentucky went digital, math and reading scores were the highest they had ever been for fourth graders, Horvath said.
“Since 2016, you adopted tech. Math has gone down four points to the lowest levels we’ve seen since 2006, and reading dropped 10 points, lower than it has ever been in Kentucky history,” he said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic forced students to be fully digital for some of the last decade, Horvath said the pandemic is not the main source of the problem.
“I took COVID out of the data. It doesn’t matter,” he said. “What we’re seeing is not unique to your state … I could do this for all 50 states.”
Horvath said learning using digital methods is always “shallower, weaker and less durable” than learning done with analog methods, and that “digital literacy is not determined by the amount of tech you use, it’s determined by the amount of knowledge you have.”
Sen. Steve Rawlings, R-Burlington, asked Horvath where the push for more technology in the classroom came from.
“Was it big tech?” he asked. “A mom sent me a 2017 article that said that the National Education Association’s top priorities were a digital curriculum over an in-person … Was it evidence-based?”
Horvath said the decision to introduce the individual use of tablets and laptops into classrooms was “never” evidence-based. He said mass introduction occurred when a leading computer company invented a laptop that didn’t sell well. The company decided to recoup costs by selling it cheaply to schools, he said.
Rep. Shane Baker, R-Somerset, asked Horvath about what age screen time use is appropriate and how much screen time is acceptable.
Horvath said removing all tech from schools is not a realistic goal, however, primary schools “could get away with never touching tech.” Technology use in the classroom for older students should be “very, very regulated,’ he added.
Advocate Emily Cherkin also spoke to the committee about the dangers of technology use in the classroom.
“In my professional opinion, one of the most harmful things we have done to our children in American schools is to give them internet-connected devices built by for-profit technology companies and call it educational, and then to act surprised when test scores plummet, mental health declines and skill-building and cognition erode,” she said.
Cherkin urged lawmakers to consider scaling back digital technology use and access in schools, and require schools obtain full and informed consent from parents before children engage with technology use in the classroom. She also suggested allowing parents to opt-out of any ed-tech offerings and to provide those students with an equal educational experience.
Artificial intelligence use in the classroom is another concern, Cherkin said, especially generative AI. She told lawmakers generative AI is “dangerous” for children and asked lawmakers to consider a recent call for a five-year pause on generative AI use in pre-K through 12th grade.
Here in Kentucky, Fleming County Schools is already looking at ways to reduce digital technology usage in the classroom. Superintendent Dr. Brian Creasman told the committee the students have started to ask for less technology-driven learning.
He said the district’s school board is in the process of approving a new screen time policy that would limit screen time use to 45 minutes per day for grades K-5, 60 minutes per day for grades 6-8 and 90 minutes per day for grades 9-12.
“We really want learning to take place in our classrooms that’s more meaningful to students and more relevant, but that also prepares students for the real world,” he said.
Committee co-chair Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, said Monday’s discussion only “scratches the surface” of the topic of screen time in schools. He believes it is a topic lawmakers will continue to study throughout the interim.
“I can already tell from our presentations that there may be some legislation forthcoming,” he said.
The Kentucky General Assembly cannot take action on legislation until the 2027 legislative session begins on Jan. 5.
The next Interim Joint Committee on Education meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Aug. 4.
