ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Fifty-seventh Legislature

First Regular Session

 

HB 2029: internet safety instruction; public schools

Sponsor: Representative Martinez, LD 16

Committee on Education

Overview

Requires each school operated by a school district (district school) or charter school that provides internet-connected electronic devices or internet access to students to provide internet safety instruction in each of the 5th-12th grades. Allows a parent to opt their student out of internet safety instruction.

History

A local education agency must adopt policies regarding the use of technology and the internet while at school that include notifying a parent of the policies and the parent's ability to prohibit their student from using technology and the internet while at school in which personally identifiable information or material may be shared with an operator (A.R.S. ยง 15-1046).

Approved in January 2022, the Arizona Educational Technology Standards contain seven pillars that are designed to integrate with all academic standards to create multi-modal pathways for all learners. Within these standards is the pillar of Digital Citizen, which is described as the standard by which students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and the students act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.

Provisions

1.   Mandates each district school or charter school that provides internet-connected electronic devices or internet access to students to provide, beginning the 2026-2027 school year, internet safety instruction to all students in each of the 5th-12th grades.

2.   Specifies the internet safety instruction must include best practices for:

a)   protecting students from online predators;

b)   avoiding internet scams;

c) protecting students' passwords and personal information; and

d)   protecting students from opioids.

3.   Instructs the Arizona Department of Education, by June 30, 2026, to compile age-appropriate resources that satisfy the internet safety instruction requirement and make these resources available to school districts and charter schools.

4.   Requires a school to provide each parent with an opportunity to opt their student out of internet safety instruction.

5.   Exempts a school from providing internet safety instruction to a student who is opted out.

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