EdTech Fast Facts

In Wake County:

• Students ages 13+ in Wake County Public Schools (WCPS) currently have unlimited access to Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot. There is NO policy governing AI use in WCPS.

• The Wake County School Board has created an AI task force of 34 education professionals to draft a policy to govern AI use in schools. You can view the latest draft of the policy here. The Board intends to approve a policy by the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

• Wake County currently adheres to a 1:1 device policy, with devices assigned to all students in grades Kindergarten and up.

• There is no formal policy advising teachers on the appropriate uses of technology, screen time by grade level, or content restrictions. Student use varies widely from school to school.

• The Board is considering a revision to the 1:1 device policy as expenses mount and financial support from the state lessens.

In North Carolina:

• North Carolina has spent an estimated $3 billion on the 1:1 device policy across the state, acquiring 1.2 million student devices.

• The NC State Senate is currently considering a bill that would allocate $10 million in annual recurring costs to bring Khanmigo, an unproven AI platform developed by OpenAI and Khan Academy, into the public school ecosystem. The Senators proposing the Bill advocate for Khanmigo’s potential to revolutionize education, but it has been described as something “students just didn’t use much” and a “non-event” by Khan Academy’s own founder, Sal Khan.

• North Carolina ranks 50th of 51 states (including DC) in the nation for education spending.

Nationally:

• The United States spends $30 billion on educational technology per year. That is equivalent to approximately 300,000 teacher salaries, 7 billion school lunches, and $609 for every K-12 student in the nation.

• The more time a student spends on screens in the classroom, the poorer they perform on standardized tests across subject areas.

• Children in lower-income schools spend significantly more time on screens than those in higher-income schools. The same is true for children of color compared to white children.

• There is no peer-reviewed research to show that i-ready, an EdTech product whose use is mandated by hundreds of public school districts for millions of students across the country, is effective in improving learning outcomes. The company behind i-ready, Curriculum Associates, is being sued over student data collection and makes $775 million in revenue per year, most of which is from tax-payer dollars in public school districts.

• The more time children spend on screens, the more likely they are to develop socioemotional problems including anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity…and the more likely they are to turn to screens to cope, resulting in a vicious cycle that is difficult to break free from.