Silicon Valley Parents are Leading a Backlash against Tech in the Classroom (Delilah Brumer)

Delilah Brumer is a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. This article appeared August 24, 2026 Palo Alto parent Tilli Bannett is a venture capitalist who invests in tech companies, but at a recent school board meeting, she challenged district leaders to remove most tech from classrooms. “I came here to ask of you, where is the evidence for your technology?” said Bannett, who has three kids in the Palo Alto Unified School District. She acknowledged the irony of the situation, but she was not alone in her views, even among the other tech workers at the meeting.Bannett is part of a group of parents urging California schools to restrict artificial intelligence, digital learning games and other technology, building on momentum from a largely successful statewide push to ban cellphones in classrooms. The fight is especially pronounced in Silicon Valley, where the same parents who have for years developed and marketed tech are some of the most vocal advocates for reining it in. The…