A kindergartner at Connerton Elementary will get no more than 30 minutes of daily screen time when Pasco County schools open Thursday, Aug. 13. A sixth-grader at Charles S. Rushe Middle gets up to 60 minutes. A sophomore at Land O' Lakes High or Sunlake High tops out at 90.
Those are the grade-by-grade caps in the district's "Learning First: Limited Screens, Maximum Learning" policy, which takes effect the first day of school across all Pasco campuses, including Bexley Elementary and Buchanan Middle.
The full breakdown, presented at a School Board workshop July 28:
- Grades K–1: No more than 30 minutes per day, on average
- Grades 2–5: 30 to 60 minutes per day, on average
- Middle school: No more than 60 minutes per day, on average
- High school: 60 to 90 minutes per day, on average
"Teachers own the instruction, not the technology," Superintendent John Legg said in an Aug. 6 interview with Tampa Bay Beacons.
The caps target passive screen time, when a student sits behind an open laptop without actively engaging. Coding, shared documents, simulations and research presentations remain encouraged. The district's guidelines prioritize paper-and-pencil work for learning new concepts, foundational reading, note-taking and problem solving that requires visible thinking.
Nena Green, the district's executive director for elementary schools, led the committee of teachers, instructional coaches and principals that developed the guidelines. Elementary students also face a 30-consecutive-minute cap on any single stretch of screen use, according to Wesley Chapel Community reporting on district documents reviewed at a July 16 policy meeting.
The policy builds on two earlier technology moves: strict cellphone limits adopted in 2024 that keep personal phones silent and out of sight for pre-K through eighth grade all day, and artificial intelligence use guidelines unveiled in November 2025. Pasco earned its first "A" district grade since 2009 for the 2025–26 school year, and Legg has cited the focus on foundational skills and removing distractions as central to that turnaround.
School board member Jessica Wright, a high school social studies teacher, told Tampa Bay Beacons she was most concerned about young learners in kindergarten through second grade not gaining reading and writing skills because of reliance on computerized programs. If the new approach can tackle that deficit, she said, that alone would count as a success.
Pasco is not alone. Four states took steps to limit classroom screen time in 2026: Iowa, Utah, Tennessee and Alabama. Closer to home, Hillsborough County, which serves Steinbrenner High in Lutz, has eliminated platforms including i-Ready and Imagine Learning from daily instruction in grades K–2, WUSF reported.
One caveat for families: the district describes "Learning First" as "a practical guide — not a compliance document." No enforcement mechanism or consequences for classrooms that exceed the caps have been announced. Teachers received the recommendations during planning week to prepare lessons before students arrive Thursday.
The full guidelines are available on the district's public document portal.
