California Teachers Union Presses Newsom for Three-Year AI Classroom Pause 

The California Federation of Teachers is asking outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom to impose a temporary halt on generative artificial intelligence tools in elementary and middle school classrooms, citing student and teacher safety concerns, according to an exclusive report by POLITICO. 

The union sent Newsom a letter this week requesting an executive order establishing a three-year moratorium on “student-facing technologies that include generative AI features” in kindergarten through eighth grade. 

The letter, shared exclusively with POLITICO, argued that the pause is needed so that Governor-elect Xavier Becerra and lawmakers can “work with stakeholders and pass legislation that will protect from the known and potentially unknown harms of AI.”

“California must pause the proliferation of this unregulated and unsecure technology in our classrooms while we engage in further research and develop an education-focused plan on technology and its use in the classroom,” the letter stated.

The California Federation of Teachers’ request follows months of internal polling and a white paper in which nearly nine in ten members said generative AI harms students’ critical-thinking development, three-quarters flagged risks to mental health, and more than 85%  demanded stronger privacy rules and mandatory human oversight so that student data cannot be mined for vendor training or surveillance and educators, not algorithms, retain control over grading, IEPs, and other high-stakes decisions.

The request arrives as California’s teachers unions, long dominant forces in state politics and closely aligned with Democratic leadership, continue to shape education policy. 

The California Federation of Teachers’ demand for a multi-year pause on student-facing generative AI, citing risks to privacy, critical thinking, and student data, arrives after years in which the same unions supported the rapid expansion of classroom technology built on Google Workspace, Chromebooks, and related platforms. During the pandemic, CFT and the CTA backed prolonged distance learning that depended on these tools, which routinely collect browsing histories, search activity, documents, and other student information, without mounting a comparable campaign for independent research or strict limits on classroom technology for progressive indoctrination.

California Globe reporting has documented that speakers at a CTA LGBTQ+ Issues Conference described monitoring students’ Google searches and online activity to identify and personally invite sixth-graders to LGBTQ clubs while concealing the clubs’ membership from parents, indicating that educators affiliated with the union were prepared to use student data generated by classroom technology for targeted recruitment.

Additionally, the CTA and CFT have directed tens of millions of dollars from member dues primarily toward Democratic candidates and causes over decades, while student academic outcomes have plummeted. 

That record includes the progressive elimination of objective measures such as the SAT in the name of equity. As the California Globe has reported, more than 800 UC STEM faculty, including a majority of mathematics department chairs, recently demanded the tests’ reinstatement after the policy produced a nearly thirtyfold increase in incoming students performing below high-school level in math, with roughly 70% of those students at or below middle-school levels and professors forced to reteach foundational algebra while trying to deliver college-level coursework.

Newsom’s administration has overseen significant expansions of state spending and education initiatives during his tenure, frequently in partnership with the same labor groups now seeking restrictions on emerging classroom technology. Whether Newsom will act on the request before leaving office remains unclear.

The letter frames the proposed moratorium as a temporary safeguard pending further study and legislation, positioning the union as a key stakeholder in any forthcoming rules governing AI use in California public schools.

Newsom has not yet publicly responded to the request.