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Committee advances bill to limit and define screen-based instruction; amendment would extend standards through high school
Summary
The House Education Policy Committee gave House Bill 584 a favorable report after adopting amendments that add a 20-20-20 vision-break requirement, define screen-based instruction to require clear educational value, and (by a subsequent amendment) extend the standards through 12th grade.
The House Education Policy Committee voted to give House Bill 584 a favorable report after adopting amendments that set new guidance for screen-based classroom instruction and establish a task force to develop standards.
Rep. Ross introduced HB 584 as an extension of a prior measure that covered screen-time from birth through kindergarten and asked the panel to advance the bill. Rep. Baker offered an amendment that, among other changes, requires “regular vision breaks during screen-based instruction” and specifies a 20-20-20 rule: “every 20 minutes, students must spend at least 20 seconds looking at an object at least 20 feet away,” Baker said. The amendment also narrows allowable screen-based instruction to activities with clear educational value and critical-thinking components, listing examples such as coding, immersive simulations, multimedia projects, interaction with experts, peer collaboration and research.
Representative Dubose questioned whether the amendment removed an earlier provision that “may not routinely exceed two hours per day unless there is clear educational value.” Committee members replied that the bill removes a fixed daily cap and instead directs a task force to research and recommend time limits and standards. “It may be changed by the task force,” a member said; committee discussion indicated studies would guide that decision.
Later in debate, Rep. Paramore offered an amendment to extend the bill’s grade coverage from fifth grade through 12th grade. “The genesis of this amendment is basically making this instead of the fifth grade all the way up to 12th grade,” Paramore said; Rep. Fincher seconded. The committee adopted that amendment by voice vote.
After amendments were adopted, Rep. Drummond moved and Rep. Baker seconded to give HB 584 a favorable report. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; the clerk announced the bill was given a favorable report. The committee did not record roll-call tallies during the voice votes.
What the bill would do and what was changed: The amended bill requires school districts to adopt vision-break practices for screen-based instructional time, defines permitted screen-based activities as those with clear educational value and critical-thinking components, and assigns local task-force or curriculum staff to develop guidelines and review recommendations. A previously explicit statutory daily time limit was removed in favor of standards to be developed by the task force.
The committee advanced HB 584 to the next stage with the adopted amendments; no final floor action is recorded in the committee transcript.
