The District-Wide Banning of Canva: Removing Creative Tools in Classrooms

As of March 29, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District banned a beloved vessel of artistic value: Canva. A space where students at Morro Bay High School can create slideshows for class projects or graphic design use, Canva was once a platform where students could express their creative abilities; it has now been put in the large pile of websites the district has banned through school-issued accounts. 

The platform’s ban ultimately derived from the unlimited access to YouTube through the Canva website, another platform that the district banned in 2024. Although most MBHS students aren’t using Canva as a gateway to YouTube, the sheer fact that they could access it ultimately removed the website as a whole. 

At this time, Canva is not CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) compliant and violates MBHS’s current policy with AI and YouTube, allowing MBHS students to use AI tools through the website. The administrators at MBHS had contacted Canva, explaining that their students use it for designing, but don’t want them to be able to access YouTube & AI tools — with which the issue wasn’t resolved. 

As our society advances into more technology-driven jobs, the next generation of MBHS students who hope to pursue careers in media marketing and communications will be denied a platform that kickstarts their love of design. If students plan on or are in any leadership social media management positions at MBHS, the disappearance of this beloved platform will affect them greatly. 

Ever since the platform’s access was removed for students, working on creative presentations has become nearly impossible unless students use a personal hotspot or account.

“With Canva no longer being accessible to my class, we have to pivot some of our assignments since we use it regularly to create social media posts for our articles,” said Journalism teacher Erin Grasty. 

As the social media director for the Associated Student Body and the Drama Club on campus, working on time-sensitive projects has been nearly impossible, and has limited me to working solely at home. This issue has created an extensive workload for positions that could once be completed at school, and overall removed my ability to complete posts & projects during the time frame I was once given. 

“The loss of Canva prevents me from making creatively interesting and artistic projects for classes, particularly African-American studies, because it’s an interdisciplinary course. The course requires a lot of creating art, slideshows, and projects that are very visually based, and it really hurts that class,” said senior Jamie Hendel-De La O. 

Before spring break started, MBHS principal Scott Schalde sent out an email regarding the eventual removal of the platform, explaining that after March 29, the platform would be removed. The official statement of why MBHS is removing access to Canva includes a detailed tutorial on how students can transfer their past Canva projects over to their personal accounts. 

While students are told that Canva is being banned because of AI tools and access to YouTube, there’s a deeper loss at hand, as most MBHS students use the platform for designing instead of looking up inappropriate content on YouTube. The inappropriate and incorrect use of a tool that is extremely beneficial for students is compromising students and their ability to make certain mediums of art on campus.