{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://gottheimer.house.gov/posts/release-gottheimer-unveils-bipartisan-back-to-school-agenda-for-ai-in-k-12-education", "RELEASE: Gottheimer Unveils Bipartisan Back-to-School Agenda for AI in K-12 Education", "2026-09-04", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Josh Gottheimer", "G000583", "gottheimer.house.gov", "gottheimer", "https://gottheimer.house.gov/press", "scraper", "AI is a Tool, Not a Replacement for Critical Thinking\n\nNew Bipartisan Legislation will Help K-12 Schools Build AI Labs, Train Teachers, Keep Jersey Students Ahead of Curve\n\nEmphasizes Importance of Screen Time Limits In School\n\nAbove: Gottheimer announces Bipartisan Back-to-School Agenda on AI and Screen Time in K-12 Education.\n\nRIDGEWOOD, N.J. \u2014 Today, September 4, 2026, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Co-Chair of the House Commission on Artificial Intelligence and the Innovation Economy, unveiled a comprehensive, bipartisan back-to-school agenda to make sure students in the Fifth District and across the country are prepared for a world increasingly shaped by AI. Speaking at George Washington Middle School, Gottheimer announced his new bipartisan AI LABS Act, co-led by Congressman Jay Obernolte (CA-23), to help K-12 schools build dedicated AI labs and train teachers \u2014 and paired it with a broader push to keep phones out of the classroom, protect New Jersey\u2019s phone-free schools resources, boost AI literacy in the classroom, and close the digital divide so no community gets left offline.\n\nWatch full remarks here.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to pretend AI doesn\u2019t exist, and we\u2019re not going to ban it and hope it goes away. So, here in Jersey, we need to do this differently,\u201d said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). \u201cAI can be a powerful tool, but it can never replace the fundamentals. Give our schools the tools. Give our teachers the training. And give our children a real head start, instead of a false choice between banning technology outright and drowning in it.\u201d\n\nAI is already reshaping how students study, how teachers plan, and how employers hire, but K-12 schools have unequal access to the tools and curricula students need to learn how to use it responsibly. The bipartisan AI LABS Act tackles that gap head-on.\n\nThis legislation directs the Department of Education to create a new federal grant program or make resources from existing grant programs available to help K-12 schools establish dedicated AI labs, much like the computer and typing labs that became a fixture in schools a generation ago. Those labs would give students hands-on curricula on how to use and understand AI, help teachers better understand the technology, and incorporate it into their classrooms. The bill also directs the Department to study who receives the resources, how they are used, and to make recommendations on future investment so students and educators stay ahead on AI education.\n\nAlongside the AI LABS Act, Gottheimer announced additional steps in his AI back-to-school agenda:\n\nProtecting New Jersey\u2019s phone-free schools resources. Gottheimer is sending a letter to Governor Mikie Sherrill and New Jersey Commissioner of Education Dr. Lily Laux that emphasizes the importance of the state\u2019s Phone-Free Schools Grant Program. Public school districts across Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties \u2014 including eleven here in the Fifth District \u2014 received grants to go bell-to-bell phone-free this year.\n\nBoosting AI education in New Jersey. Gottheimer is calling on the State to dedicate K-12 resources specifically to responsibly integrate AI literacy, ethics, and practical skills into K-12 public school curriculum while limiting screen time to ensure fundamentals remain a priority in education.\n\nKeeping phones out of the classroom. Gottheimer is supporting the bipartisan UNPLUGGED Act, introduced by Representatives Eugene Vindman (VA-7) and Jen Kiggans (VA-2), which supports state and local policies that keep personal electronic devices out of the classroom during school hours. It also establishes a Department of Education grant program to help schools purchase secure lock boxes and pouches, with commonsense exceptions for students with medical needs, disabilities, and English learners.\n\nEnsuring Connectivity for All Students and Families. Gottheimer is sending a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) urging the agencies to prioritize broadband deployment to rural and underserved school districts, so the benefits of AI are not concentrated in the wealthiest, most connected communities. This letter builds on Gottheimer\u2019s work fighting for broadband funding for New Jersey, including more than $260 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that he helped write, negotiate, and sign into law.\n\nThese actions build on Gottheimer\u2019s consistent support for New Jersey schools, including fighting against the Trump administration\u2019s proposed cuts to over $1 billion in education funding for New Jersey, which were fortunately blocked.\n\nRidgewood Public School District, one of the largest and top-ranked school districts in Bergen County, is implementing a \u201cReturn to a Strong Foundation\u201d emphasis this year focused on limiting screens in the classroom and keeping fundamentals front and center in the age of AI.\n\nGottheimer was joined by Ridgewood Councilman Frank Mortimer, Ridgewood School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Schwarz, George Washington Middle School Principal Dave Bailey, Bergen County Association of School Administrators President Dr. Joseph Cirillo, NJ PTA President Jackie Gibbs, NJ PTA Federal Legislative Chairperson Sharon Roseboro, and NJ PTA Bergen County Council of PTAs President Nancy Wallace. Gottheimer was also joined by four George Washington Middle School students involved in student government \u2013 Alaiya Barnes, Landon Ponchak, Karleigh Cadaret, and Druv Kethini.\n\nBelow: Gottheimer announces Bipartisan Back-to-School Agenda on AI and Screen Time in K-12 Education.\n\nRead full remarks here:\n\nGood morning, Ridgewood!\n\nAs you close out your first week back to school, I want to start by thanking everyone here at George Washington Middle School, including the educators, the administrators and staff, the school board, and especially the students, for having me here today.\n\nNow, I did a little homework before I came, because that\u2019s what you\u2019re supposed to do at school, right? And, I learned a couple of things about this building that I did not know.\n\nFirst, some of you know the name Willie Geist. He anchors Sunday Today and co-hosts Morning Joe. Willie met his wife, Christina, in their sixth-grade homeroom right here at George Washington Middle School, back in 1986. Forty years later, they\u2019re still together. So, I don\u2019t know exactly what they were teaching in that homeroom, but whatever it was, keep doing it.\n\nSecond, Ridgewood\u2019s roots go all the way to the Revolutionary War. George Washington visited this area and wrote letters from right around here, while Patriot and British troops fought nearby. The borough was practically founded during America\u2019s fight for independence. When Washington delivered his first Annual Address to Congress, he said something I think about a lot, especially on a day like today. He said, \u201cKnowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.\u201d\n\nTwo hundred and fifty years after our founding, that\u2019s still true, and it\u2019s exactly why we\u2019re here this morning.\n\nI want to give real credit to the Ridgewood School District. While you study the past, you\u2019re not living it. You\u2019re on the cutting edge of education, including how to best use, and not use, technology to learn. This year, you launched your \u201cReturn to a Strong Foundation\u201d initiative, cutting back laptop use in the classroom for its nearly 5,500 students, especially for the youngest children. Ridgewood started limiting cell phones in school, too, with phones in lockers, all day, for every student, from elementary school right up through high school. I should add that\u2019s now the state law. No phones in the classroom.\n\nIn my opinion, that\u2019s exactly the kind of commonsense, community-driven leadership we need more of, and it\u2019s exactly the balance we need to be talking about in the age of AI. The answer isn\u2019t more screens. The answer is smarter, more purposeful use of technology, alongside real, honest-to-goodness reading, writing, and critical thinking. In other words, technology can\u2019t do your work or your thinking for you. When the calculator showed up to replace the abacus, we still learned how to count. As a kid, I used to look up facts in the World Book Encyclopedia \u2013 and then came the Internet.\n\nI still got to read about and learn about the landing on the moon, but I found the information online, not in a book on the shelf. There\u2019s a big difference. We can\u2019t let AI write our papers or do our math assignments, but it can be a tool for helping us learn. We can\u2019t allow AI to replace our educators, but it can certainly help take the busy work off their plate, or allow them to develop more personalized lesson plans for students.\n\nIt\u2019s clear that your school system and your educators already get that. Today, I\u2019m here to take that approach across our state and nationwide.\n\nWe are at a true inflection point. Technology isn\u2019t slowing down for us. It never has and never will. Just this week, OpenAI introduced Astra, its latest model. This is on the heels of Anthropic\u2019s Mythos \u2013 and new Chinese open-weight models that are coming at us nearly every week.\n\nWhether we like it or not, artificial intelligence, or AI, is already in our children\u2019s backpacks, on their laptops, and on their phones. The question isn\u2019t whether our children will encounter AI in their lives \u2013 K-12, in college, in their jobs. They will. Just the way we have iPhones and our parents didn\u2019t.\n\nThe question is whether we prepare them for it, or just cross our fingers and hope for the best.\n\nObviously, we can\u2019t take that chance. Our children absolutely need every tool available to compete, not just against others in New Jersey or in the US, but against children in China, India, and all over the world already being trained on this technology. If we sit on our hands, if we don\u2019t have the tools, we will fall behind. That\u2019s just the reality.\n\nBut, I want to be really clear about this. AI can be a powerful tool, but it can never replace the fundamentals.\n\nOur students need to learn how to think, solve problems, ask questions, and understand the material for themselves, not through a chatbot. We should use AI to strengthen those skills \u2013 not use it as a shortcut around them.\n\nHere\u2019s why I say that. A recent poll found that 45 percent of Jersey students report using AI frequently for schoolwork. But, here\u2019s the number that should get every parent\u2019s attention: nearly two out of three students admit they\u2019ve used AI to cheat in school. And nationally, the majority of teens think AI cheating happens regularly at their own school.\n\nMeanwhile, a lot of parents are flying blind \u2013 and, while there are some tools to help, it\u2019s not always easy for an educator to catch a kid using AI to do his or her assignment. In a recent survey from Montclair School District, half of parents said they had no idea how often their own kid uses AI for schoolwork, and 87 percent said they want clearer communication from schools about all of it. So, we\u2019ve got children using a powerful new technology every single day, and we\u2019ve got parents and teachers who, in far too many cases, don\u2019t even know it\u2019s happening, let alone whether it\u2019s helping or hurting their student or child.\n\nNow, some places have looked at all this and panicked. This week, Mayor Mamdani and New York City rolled out a policy banning AI tools outright for every student through eighth grade, with only high schoolers getting restricted access.\n\nI get the instinct. Fewer screens, more critical thinking. I agree with that part, one hundred percent \u2013 and I think a lot more of our tests and note-taking should be on a piece of paper, not a computer. But, an outright ban doesn\u2019t teach a single kid how to use AI responsibly, nor does it teach the skills that can help them.\n\nIt just guarantees that the first time they really encounter AI with no guardrails and no guidance is the day they get handed a diploma and shoved into a workforce that runs on this stuff. That\u2019s not a plan. That\u2019s sticking your head in the sand and hoping it goes away.\n\nThink about it this way. When I was a kid, we had typing class. Some of you probably did too, pecking away on those big clunky keyboards.\n\nThen by the 80s, and into the \u201990s, schools built computer labs because people realized that if children don\u2019t learn a new technology in school that would prepare them for life, in a structured way, with a teacher guiding them, they will learn it somewhere else: badly, unsupervised, and usually too late.\n\nAI technology is the same idea for this generation. We\u2019re not going to pretend it doesn\u2019t exist, and we\u2019re not going to ban it and hope it goes away. So, here in Jersey, we need to do this differently.\n\nWe should put AI skills in a classroom, with a curriculum, with an educator, and with guardrails, so that our children grow up to be smart users of AI, not passive victims of it.\n\nThat\u2019s why, today, I\u2019m announcing my new bipartisan AI LABS Act, with my colleague Congressman Jay Obernolte of California. This federal legislation directs the U.S. Department of Education to create a new federal grant program to help K-12 public schools set up dedicated AI labs, with real curricula, that teach students how AI actually works, and how to be prepared to utilize it smartly in the new AI world.\n\nThis builds on recommendations from the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association for real, dedicated curricula that are directed and supervised by educators. There is a reason why AI companies are now hiring college students with philosophy and history degrees, not just those with computer science degrees. They want people who can think critically. The trades also want young people who know how to use AI on the shop floor and in building and manufacturing.\n\nThat means learning how to use AI, how to question it, and how to know when to \u2013 and not to \u2014 trust it. My new legislation will also help teachers get trained up, too, so they\u2019re not scrambling to keep pace with their own students. It also requires a study on how the funds are actually being utilized, so we know what\u2019s working and can keep improving it.\n\nI don\u2019t want to raise a generation of children who can prompt a chatbot, but can\u2019t write a paragraph on their own, or think through what question to ask the chatbot.\n\nI want to raise a generation of children who can use it to genuinely improve their work, because they understand how to use it and know its limits.\n\nThat\u2019s the whole idea behind the AI LABS Act. Give our schools the tools. Give our teachers the training. And give our children a real head start, instead of a false choice between banning technology outright and drowning in it.\n\nSecond, I\u2019m sending a letter to Governor Sherrill and Education Commissioner Laux on the State\u2019s Phone-Free Schools Grant Program. That program has already helped eighty-six school districts, including eleven right here in the Fifth District. It puts real bell-to-bell cell phone policies in place, with secure pouches, lockers, and the staff training to make it actually work.\n\nHere\u2019s the problem: The current budget for next year includes a record $12.4 billion for K-12 education, but there\u2019s no dedicated earmark in there to keep this program going in the future.\n\nMy letter emphasizes the importance of this funding \u2013 school districts are just starting to get this right, and we can\u2019t pull the rug out from under them now.\n\nThird, I\u2019m also pushing for new federal funding to help supplement the state\u2019s program. That\u2019s why, I\u2019m very proud to cosponsor the bipartisan UNPLUGGED Act \u2013 legislation that directs states and school districts to actually implement phone-free policies during the school day, and it creates a federal grant program to help schools pay for the lockboxes and secure pouches to make it happen.\n\nIt includes sensible exceptions too, for children managing a medical condition like Type 1 diabetes, children with disabilities, and English language learners who need translation support.\n\nMore resources for this important effort will help implement New Jersey\u2019s new cell phone ban legislation that previous Governor Murphy signed into law in January, which requires all school districts in the state to adopt policies restricting the use of cell phones and other internet-enabled devices in K-12 public schools.\n\nFourth, I\u2019m working with the state to keep building out real K-12 AI literacy priorities. This builds on New Jersey\u2019s Department of Education\u2019s new core AI principles that were developed with TeachAI, a global partnership that helps schools and governments use AI safely and responsibly in education. These principles will ensure Jersey schools keep people in the loop and put students\u2019 own thinking front and center, not just whatever the AI spits out. This is exactly the kind of approach we need.\n\nWe can\u2019t risk losing funding for this program. That\u2019s why, along with others, I successfully fought the Trump Administration\u2019s proposed cuts to New Jersey\u2019s schools. He tried to gut more than $1 billion in federal funding \u2013 and we beat him.\n\nAnd finally, I\u2019m writing to the FCC and the NTIA about broadband access and connectivity. This is an issue that I\u2019ve been working on for years, and, while we\u2019ve made a ton of progress, we still have towns in Northern Jersey with basically dial-up connectivity, and speeds that AI can\u2019t run on. That\u2019s unacceptable.\n\nRight now, there are more than 5,000 homes in Sussex County without dial up, with more than 3,000 more who don\u2019t have access to broadband.\n\nIf we don\u2019t get high-speed internet into our rural and disadvantaged school districts, like parts of Sussex County that I represent \u2014 net inequality will be permanently baked in. The advantages that AI promises shouldn\u2019t depend on your zip code. I am urging both agencies to prioritize the communities furthest behind, so they get connected first, not last.\n\nThis builds on my work getting hundreds of millions in funding for broadband infrastructure right here in Jersey through the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and the CARES Act, three historic bills that I helped write, negotiate, and sign into law. I\u2019m calling on the state to put to work the money that I fought for in the Care Act. New Jersey was approved for more than $260 million that I helped bring back from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. So far, only $60 million has been deployed to help connect Jersey families, but we have a long way to go.\n\nRight now, the Trump administration is holding up the last $200 million of this critical funding to connect families across Sussex County and the rest of the state. That\u2019s why the FCC and the administration need to release the rest of the funds and get broadband access to every family across the state.\n\nPut it all together, and here\u2019s what we\u2019re doing today: a bill to teach AI the right way, and a push to keep phones out of the way, a push to get real funding for AI literacy, and a push to make sure no community in America gets left offline while the rest of the world races ahead.\n\nI\u2019ll be honest with you: as Co-chair of the House Commission on AI, technology is moving fast, and some days it can feel like it\u2019s moving faster than we can keep up with. But, I have never once bet against American children and Jersey\u2019s incredible educators and schools \u2013 and I\u2019m not about to start today.\n\nI promise you, these children will run circles around whatever the future throws at them.\n\nAs long as we keep investing in our children and working together, here in the greatest country in the world, I know that our best days will always, always be ahead of us.\n\nThank you, God bless you, and may God continue to bless and watch over the United States of America.", 1, "2026-09-05T08:49:07Z", "2026-09-05T08:50:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://gottheimer.house.gov/posts/release-gottheimer-unveils-bipartisan-back-to-school-agenda-for-ai-in-k-12-education"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0346020571887493, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}