Governor Kay Ivey created a commission to examine how much screen-based instruction Alabama students should receive, setting the stage for potential changes to classroom technology policies when lawmakers return to Montgomery next year.
Ivey signed Executive Order 745 on Wednesday, establishing the Governor’s Commission on Screen-Based Instruction. The commission will study the benefits and risks of screen-based instruction in Alabama’s K-12 schools.
The commission will develop evidence-based recommendations on the appropriate use of screen-based instruction, including ways technology can support student learning without replacing traditional classroom instruction and human interaction.
The order follows efforts by Ivey and the Republican-led Legislature to restrict other forms of screen exposure in schools and early childhood settings. Ivey will appoint commission members, and the commission will dissolve after submitting its final report.
The commission must submit its final report to Ivey, the Legislature and the Alabama State Board of Education by December 1, 2026. Lawmakers could use the findings as the basis for legislation during the 2027 Legislative Session.
Ivey has increasingly made limiting students’ screen exposure part of her education agenda. In 2025, she signed the FOCUS Act, which prohibits students from using cellphones in classrooms and requires local school boards to establish internet safety policies.
Earlier this year, Ivey signed the Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act, which limits electronic screen use in kindergarten classrooms and child care facilities.
The new commission expands the issue beyond cellphones and early childhood programs to examine technology’s broader role in K-12 instruction.
In the executive order, Ivey said traditional teaching methods centered on personal interaction should remain at the core of education while technology can serve a useful role when implemented appropriately.
“Traditional classroom teaching methods emphasizing human interaction must remain the core of a child’s learning experience. We must therefore build on our progress by exploring how K-12 classrooms can also benefit from adjusting screen access so that it enhances and does not detract from learning. The creation of this Commission sets that process in motion,” Ivey said Wednesday.
The commission will examine both the potential benefits and drawbacks of screen-based learning rather than recommend a broad reduction in technology use.
That distinction could become significant as Alabama schools continue to use digital tools for instruction, assignments and assessments. Ivey said the state should ensure screen use enhances education rather than interferes with students’ ability to learn and interact with teachers and classmates.
The commission’s December deadline will give lawmakers a report to consider before the 2027 Legislative Session, potentially placing screen-based instruction among the education issues they revisit next year.
While the FOCUS Act targeted student cellphones and the Healthy Early Development and Screen Time Act addressed younger children, the commission will examine how Alabama schools should balance technology with traditional instruction throughout K-12 education.
