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Steve Hilton and Gina Hinojosa are both running for governor. They represent different parties and disagree about big issues. But they have a common foe: AI in schools.
Hilton, a Republican, has said he would ban AI in California schools on day one. Hinojosa, a Democratic state representative in Texas, opposes AI use by elementary school students. And both of them might find common ground with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who supports “responsible AI” in the classroom — and state guardrails.
Technology’s role in the classroom, from artificial intelligence to screen time limits, has become a talking point in races up and down the ballot. But so far, neither Democrats nor Republicans have claimed decisive ownership of the backlash to ed tech as a political issue. Elected state leaders are expressing mixed messages on the subject, even as some parents step up their own campaigns against ed tech.
“It’s a very political issue, but it’s not a partisan issue,” said Emily Cherkin, a screentime consultant who has been a prominent voice in the movement against education technology. “I am talking to people from across the political spectrum.”
While ed tech hasn’t become a partisan issue yet, that doesn’t mean policymakers aren’t addressing it. At least 13 states have passed laws around AI in education, and about three-quarters of states have issued guidance about it to districts, though in many cases it’s up to school districts to develop concrete restrictions and usage guidelines for students. Meanwhile, at least six states this year have enacted screen time legislation, in some instances capping how much digital instruction students can encounter daily
Candidates in local school board elections in particular appear to be making screen time into a bread-and-butter campaign issue. A candidate for a western Michigan district’s board touts “less screen time” as his main platform online. And two candidates in Scottsdale, Arizona include “less screen time” as a commitment in their campaign.
In San Francisco, a stone’s throw away from Silicon Valley where tech heavyweights like Google have spent decades courting schools to use their products, all but one of the eight candidates running for school board spots said in a recent questionnaire that they would support a policy limiting technology and screen time in the classroom, similar to one recently passed by Los Angeles’ board. The remaining candidate, Phil Kim, didn’t definitively support or oppose the idea, but wrote that digital learning tools “should be used intentionally when there is evidence that they improve learning.”
In bigger contests like statewide races, the pervasive nature of technology in schools, and what should count as appropriate use of AI in education, might present as a difficult issue to address with voters, said Pat McGuinn, a political scientist at Drew University.
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For example, while the rapid construction of data centers might represent a concrete threat to some voters, AI in education is “more of an amorphous” issue for voters to grasp because it’s such a new concept, he said. Most voters, too, are not parents of minor children, and may not prioritize ed tech policies as they make their decisions.
Still, ed-tech backlash is coming up on the campaign trail in some of those bigger races.
In his reelection campaign against Hinojosa, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t ceding the issue to her. Earlier this month at an event hosted by Moms for Liberty, a conservative education group that’s supported screen time limits, Abbott said, “We’re going to be eliminating and reducing screen time in classrooms for students, and getting back to true education.”
Hinojosa’s campaign shot back in a statement to a local news organization that Abbott was responsible for digital creep in Texas schools. Her campaign highlighted a plan in the Houston school district, which the state took over in 2023, to expand an AI-driven school model as an example of how Abbott “has replaced hands-on learning with screen time in elementary school and is now ushering in AI schools in Houston ISD.”
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said the issue has made for some strange bedfellows — but hasn’t prompted action from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Education released guidance related to screen time in August.
Earlier this year, Weingarten called for a screen ban for students in prekindergarten through second grade as well as limits on AI, although AFT did announce a National Academy for AI Instruction in 2025 in partnership with ed-tech companies. The union also reached an agreement with Microsoft creating safety and privacy protections related to AI in schools.
“You have Moms for Liberty and AFT on the same side of screen time, and you have the Department of Education doing nothing about it,” Weingarten said.
Lily Altavena is a national reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Lily at laltavena@chalkbeat.org. Lily is on Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook.