Public school districts will be encouraged to limit elementary school student use of iPads and laptops in the classroom under a Missouri House bill approved in a 143-10 vote Monday.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Tricia Byrnes, addressed that critique with committee members, who passed a version that would require schools to set their own technology policy with guidance from experts.
“(School boards) should create a policy that makes sense, that’s going to be supported by their teachers and parents. But most importantly, it is going to help their students,” Byrnes said during a House debate Monday.
Schools would also be required to share information about students’ use of technology to their guardians, upon request.
Over the past 10 years, an increasing number of schools have created policies that provide devices like an iPad or laptop to each student. State Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly and chairman of the House Education Committee, said this push is “wrong” for young students.
He didn’t want the state to set a limit on technology time but wants the state to “start the process of looking at screen time in schools.”
The legislation would establish a council overseen by the state’s education department that would create model policies for school districts and potentially inform legislative changes on technology use in schools. The council would be made of teachers, principals, a parent advocate and adolescent health professionals.
“This is a bill to put this back to the teachers and the experts,” Byrnes told the House during its first debate on the bill last week.
The changes won over former educators like state Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Democrat from Columbia, who applauded the bill for “pulling experts in” while allowing school districts to set local policies.
“This is a really exciting moment for this bill,” she said last week. “I think this will be the most important bill we pass out of the education committee this year.”
