LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District board voted on April 21, 2026, to restrict students' use of laptops and tablets in class and to encourage pen-and-paper assignments in their place. The resolution passed 6-0 with one recusal.

The measure requires the district to create a screen time policy for each grade and subject, prohibits students in first grade and younger from using devices at school, and clarifies the process for parents to opt their child out of using technology at school. It also requires an audit of the district's education technology contracts.

The district must present a detailed screen time policy to the school board in June and implement it in the 2026-2027 school year. The policy must prohibit elementary and middle school students from using devices during lunch and recess and must prohibit students from seeking out YouTube videos on their own.

Board member Nick Melvoin was in charge of drafting the resolution. "We have responsibility as one of the largest districts to draw a line in the sand when it comes to this recalibration and start the conversation," Melvoin said.

The vote followed months of advocacy by parents who formed a group called Schools Beyond Screens, which has 2,000 local members. The group pressed its case at board meetings, on social media, at district listening sessions, and in private meetings with administrators and board members. Some families reported that their children's grades dropped as they became distracted by playing video games, watching YouTube, and scrolling social media and internet forums on school-issued devices. Parents and teachers complained that some middle schools reserved one day a week for students to complete online math and reading quizzes, disrupting unrelated classes such as gym, music, and science.

"This is an historic reform that we hope will trickle down to the rest of the country very, very quickly," said Anya Meksin, a mother of two and deputy director of Schools Beyond Screens. "We see this as a big cultural shift into how schools approach technology," she added.

Former Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who championed education technology, was placed on leave in February after the FBI searched his Los Angeles home and office. The search was connected to a technology company that the district paid $3 million to develop a nonfunctional AI chatbot.