Miami-Dade already bans phones for its youngest students. Teachers say AI cheating is proving harder to stop.
A new Telemundo 51/NBC6 survey polled more than 1,200 South Florida teachers. It found 79% worried about students using AI tools to cheat on assignments and exams. Nearly two-thirds, 64%, said their school isn't giving them adequate guidance on how to handle it.
Phones Are the Easier Fight
The same survey found 87% of teachers support banning student cellphone use throughout the entire school day, at every grade level. Miami-Dade already restricts personal devices for students from kindergarten through eighth grade. High school students can use them only for academic purposes with teacher authorization. Broward runs a similar policy.
"The phones are very good, but phones in the classroom must be put away," said Nany Howard, a teacher with Miami-Dade Public Schools. "We need them to give us that opportunity to teach during that hour and a bit that we have in class."
Even with those rules already in place, 52% of teachers surveyed said enforcing them in practice is still difficult.
AI Is the Harder One
Phones are visible and bannable. AI-assisted cheating often isn't.
Teacher Thais García described how it shows up in her classroom.
"Children cheat on exams if you're not paying attention," she said. "They use Meta Glasses or their phones, or they switch to another tab to look for answers."
That gap between the technology and the rules around it is about to widen further. The Florida Board of Education approved new statewide AI rules for K-12 schools this month.
They're among the most restrictive in the country. The rules require parental consent before students use AI tools and mandate human supervision. They also ban systems built to simulate emotional companionship or run covert psychological profiling.
Those rules don't take effect until the 2027-2028 school year. Judging by how many teachers already feel unsupported, that timeline looks slow to the people who have to enforce it now.
The Mental Health Layer
The survey also found 94% of teachers concerned about social media's effect on student mental health. Teachers describe that worry as tangled up with AI, not separate from it.
"What happens is that children compare themselves," said teacher Marlén Lanza. "'Oh, look at the life she has, the things he has, look at what they do, I do nothing and I don't have this, I don't have that.' That's when depression begins."
Miami-Dade classrooms are already managing one device restriction. A second layer of rules aimed at AI is arriving before the first one has fully worked.