Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Feds target school internet subsidies in ed-tech backlash even as Trump touts AI

chalkbeat.org · 15h · first reportShare

Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to keep up with how education is changing across the U.S. Like many parents, Arielle Roth has concerns about her children’s screen time at school. But unlike her peers, she’s in a position to influence the issue at nearly every school in America. Roth heads an obscure federal agency within the Commerce Department that serves as the president’s top policy adviser on telecommunications issues. In that role, she’s called for more scrutiny of federal policies that support technology in the classroom, convened listening sessions with screen-skeptic parents , and coordinated between federal agencies. She calls the struggle “deeply personal.” “It’s hard enough to manage at home,” Roth, a mom of six, said at a luncheon last year with a free-market think tank . “But it’s even harder when screens have become inescapable at school.” Now the Federal Communications Commission — citing Roth’s work and riding a broader backlash to education technology —