As the new school year begins, most K-12 students in the United States are gradually returning to campuses, with public schools having varying restrictions on cellphone usage.
A review of state legislative websites in the past few months and in recent years reveals that intensive revisions have been made to education regulations across the United States. Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws or regulations that prohibit or limit students from using cellphones on school grounds. The regulations vary widely, including requirements for students to lock their phones in bags during class, permission to use phones during breaks, lunch, or extracurricular activities, and allowing phones to be used in class for educational purposes when necessary.
Before imposing restrictions, most states have sought input from teachers and principals. According to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics, more than half of public school principals believe that cellphones harm academic performance. In a statement on February 19, then-commissioner of the center, Peggy Carr, stated that 54% of principals believed cellphone use affected academic performance, with more pointing out negative impacts on students’ mental health and focus.
He stated, “Schools are being practical in disabling or limiting student cellphone use.” This federal survey was conducted in December 2024, covering 1,490 K-12 schools across America.
Parent-led organizations such as the Phone-Free Schools Movement and Fairplay continue to lobby legislative bodies to promote policies that limit cellphone use. In 2024, these groups distributed information to schools, highlighting the correlation between cellphone use and the rising levels of anxiety and depression among adolescents.
Sabine Polak, co-founder of the Phone-Free Schools Movement, stated in a July 2024 press release, “The negative impact of excessive smartphone and social media use on adolescents is evident, and immediate action is necessary.”
Florida’s “Technology in K-12 Public Schools Act,” signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis before the start of the 2023-2024 school year, allows teachers to prohibit students from using phones in class and authorize them to confiscate phones that cause disruption. The law also restricts students from using specific platforms like TikTok and requires teaching on the social, emotional, and physical effects of social media.
After the law was signed on May 9, 2023, Florida House Speaker and Republican member Paul Renner emphasized, “Our priority is to ensure that Florida students have the tools they need for success in the classroom, emphasize the importance of learning, eliminate distractions in the classroom, and provide teachers with the necessary tools to help children compete in the global economy.”
However, a pilot program bill proposed this year ultimately failed to pass. According to the Florida Senate’s website, the bill was intended to allow six school districts of varying sizes to test a one-year ban on cellphones on campuses and report the results to the state Department of Education for consideration of future statewide policies.
Official websites of state legislative bodies indicate that in the first half of 2024, actions to restrict cellphone use on campuses were mostly taken by red states, while Minnesota passed a law requiring districts to develop relevant policies.
This movement accelerated from the second half of 2024 to 2025, paving the way for the new school year, with most states authorizing some form of cellphone restrictions. For example, Alabama and Oregon passed statewide bans requiring phones to be turned off and stored outside the classroom or locked in designated pouches by school staff.
In contrast, California and Iowa allow individual districts to decide on restriction policies.
Several states have set a deadline by the summer of 2026 to establish relevant regulations, but states can implement them earlier.
Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, and Washington currently only “encourage or recommend” policies limiting cellphone use in schools.
Sixteen states, ranging from New England’s Maine and Massachusetts to Mississippi in the American South and Wyoming and Montana in the Northwest, do not have any statewide policies, but this does not mean that school districts in these states cannot independently establish restriction measures.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics citing the School Pulse Panel survey, over three-quarters of public schools currently prohibit students from using phones during class.
Additionally, the federal agency notes that 12% of schools leave it up to teachers to decide whether to allow phone use and 5% permit phone use in class.
By grade level, 86% of elementary schools (K-5 grades) prohibit cellphone use during class, while middle and high schools have the same restriction implemented in 55% of schools.
According to the data from the statistics center, 38% of public schools nationwide have regulations that limit cellphone use during breaks, extracurricular activities, and after-school hours.
New York may become the strictest state in America to implement a “bell to bell” policy, meaning a comprehensive ban on cellphones during school hours. This policy only allows exceptions for specific circumstances, such as medical needs, language translation, individual education plans, and contacting parents in specific situations.
The state government will provide grants for purchasing cellphone storage equipment. School districts must annually report how the policy is implemented to “prevent unfair disciplinary actions.”
A recent report from the Governor’s office titled “More Learning, Less Scrolling: Creating Phone-Free Schools” points out that a statewide campus cellphone policy in New York will significantly improve the classroom experience, benefitting both teachers and students and helping the state recruit and retain high-quality teachers statewide.
The United States is closely monitoring whether these restrictions in New York will be effective.
While there is a lack of test scores and school data related to cellphone bans, recent reports from the United States and other countries show that after implementing relevant cellphone restriction policies, student engagement in learning has increased, and behavioral issues have “decreased,” according to the latest observations from the Rockefeller Institute for Government.
The report also indicates, “As other communication technologies are introduced to compensate for the demand created by cellphone bans, such as pagers, policymakers need to consider how to adjust policies to adapt to the constantly changing technological environment in education.”