The debate has intensified as school districts across the state confront the aftermath of pandemic-era remote learning, which supercharged the adoption of laptops, tablets and digital platforms. Many Colorado schools now provide individual devices to every student, but the state does not track how much time students spend on screens or how those tools are used.

Adele Fulton, a freshman at Golden High School, said her eighth-grade geometry class in Jefferson County was structured almost entirely around educational software. She recalled going days without speaking to her teacher.

“We’d just get to class and get on the computer and do the assignment on the computer,” Fulton said. “People were done with the assignment in the first four minutes of class, and then it’s just games or something else on the computer for the rest of class.”

She described the year as a lost opportunity, saying she would feel like she was taking geometry for the first time if she had to repeat it.

Her father, David Fulton, who holds a PhD in education policy, began volunteering at his children’s school and noticed students spending hours each day on screens. He now co-directs the Jefferson County chapter of Schools Beyond Screens, a group that has asked the local school board to adopt new rules.

“I don’t want a total ban on technology,” Fulton said. “I think we just need a reset. When we look at the research, generally the more often students are on the screen, the worse they’re learning.”

The group wants schools to make pencil, paper, lectures and textbooks the default tools of learning, with digital technology brought in only when course content requires it. They also seek a screen-free experience in kindergarten through fourth grade, a limited phase-in of technology in grades five through 12, and a ban on generative artificial intelligence on school-issued devices.

Jefferson County school officials declined an interview but said in an email that they believe technology should support learning, not drive it. They said they have begun providing teachers with more training and tools to monitor student technology use and are helping parents manage district-issued devices.

At the state level, another parent group, Distraction Free Schools Colorado, is shopping draft legislation to lawmakers. The proposals would allow families to opt out of individual device programs and require a statewide framework for evaluating digital tools allowed in classrooms. Group co-lead Leah Leonard said she hopes the measures are introduced during the 2027 legislative session.

“It is simply too large of an issue and too much of a burden to be putting on districts,” Leonard said. “That’s why I think it’s important that we address this at the state level.”

Colorado has no statewide policy governing educational technology, though a new state law this fall required districts to adopt comprehensive cell phone policies. The Colorado Association of School Boards said districts are still waiting for more information before making decisions about classroom technology.

Defenders of educational technology say the backlash goes too far. Rebecca Holmes, chief executive officer of the Colorado Education Initiative, said the quality of digital tools matters more than the amount of time students spend using them.

“I have seen lessons in schools with no technology that don’t ask the kids to do much critical thinking, and I have seen lessons in schools that use technology to expand the critical thinking,” Holmes said. “Banning the technology is not going to necessarily lead to more critical thinking in schools.”

Holmes added that technology can be a game-changer for students with special needs and for teachers managing diverse classrooms. Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking, warned that rolling back device programs could widen the digital divide and said statewide policies would be too blunt for a state with diverse districts and a tradition of local control.

“It should happen at the local level,” Krueger said.

But critics point to research showing that increased screen time can interfere with learning, attention and memory. Faith Boninger, an assistant research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Education Policy Center, said schools have adopted a “digital by default” mindset without carefully assessing whether technology improves a given task.

“We don’t carefully assess whether we need a digital platform to perform a particular task and whether using that digital platform is better than not using it,” Boninger said. “That’s become the norm.”

She said districts need state support to vet products effectively, because they lack the power to negotiate with large companies on their own.

For now, Adele Fulton said her ninth-grade Algebra 2 class has been screen-free, and her father said the difference is striking.

“This year the teacher does everything very hands-on,” David Fulton said. “The students are actually standing up using Expo markers, writing on the windows. They’re doing projects.”

He said his daughter is more engaged because the screens are put away.

“It’s pretty clear she learns a lot more when she’s not on the computer,” he said. “I think that’s true for most kids actually.”