The Missouri House has passed a bill to limit the amount of instructional screentime allowed in classrooms.
The bill intends to alleviate concerns about overreliance on screens by requiring school districts to evaluate their classroom technology use.
Missouri State Teachers’ Association spokesperson Todd Fuller said that local decision-making allows for better-fitting decisions.
"I think that as an association, MSTA is always going to be for local control and making a decision – and allowing a-a community to make a decision that is best for their community...”
Teachers union officials have said that they see benefit in the bill.
Missouri National Education Association spokesman Mark Jones said while classroom technology initially had its own purpose, it’s been more widely applied over time.
"Honestly, what has pushed for this technology into the classroom has been the need to do standardized testing, rather than a specific role for the technology to help improve learning."
The bill allows local districts some flexibility in how they apply the screentime rules. It also requires schools to reincorporate cursive into their curricula.
