Atlanta – Florida was the first state to approve a law that regulates the use of cell phones in schools in 2023.
Only two years later, half of all states have current laws, more likely to act soon.
The bills have run through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma, which reflects a broad consensus that phones are bad for children.
The state representative of Connecticut, Jennifer Leeper, Democrat and co-president of the Education Committee of the General Assembly, called the phones “a cancer in our children” that are “promoting isolation, loneliness, reducing attention and having important impacts on both socio-emotional well-being but also in learning.”
Republicans express similar feelings.
“This is not only an academic bill,” said Republican representative Scott Hilton after Georgia’s bill, which only prohibits phones in degrees K-8, approved in March. “This is a draft mental health law. It is a draft public security law.”
Until now, 25 states have approved laws, with eight other states and the Columbia district implementing rules or making recommendations to local districts. Of the states, 16 have acted this year. Just Tuesday, Alaska legislators required schools to regulate cell phones when they canceled an educational package that Republican governor Mike Dunleavy had seen for unrelated reasons.
More action is approaching as the bills expect the signature or veto of a governor in Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and New Hampshire.
Increased focus on phones prohibition throughout school
When Florida acted for the first time, legislators ordered schools to prohibit phones during the time of instruction while allowing them between classes or lunch. But now there is another bill that awaits the action of Governor Ron Desantis that goes further. It would prohibit phones for the entire school for primary and intermediate schools.
Nine states and the Columbia district have promulgated School Day prohibitions, most for students in degrees K-12, and now exceed seven states with prohibitions of time of instruction.
North Dakota’s republican governor Kelly Armstrong, described the ban throughout the school day he signed as a great victory. “
“The teachers loved him. The parents loved him. The directors loved him. The school boards loved him,” said Armstrong.
Armstrong recently visited a primary school with such prohibition. He said he saw committed children and laughing at the tables during lunch.
The prohibitions of “Campana Aor” have been promoted in part par excelined, the group of educational experts founded by former Florida governor Jeb Bush. The group’s political affiliate has been active in the lobbying of prohibitions.
Nathan Hoffman, senior director of state policies and defense of Exceleled, said that phones throughout the day are directed to problems outside the class, such as when students establish or record fights in the halls.
“That is often when you get some of your biggest behavior problems, whether they become viral or not,” said Hoffman.
Other states want school districts to establish their own rules
But other states, particularly when there are strong local school control traditions, only require that school districts adopt some type of cell phone policy, believing that the districts will take the track and abruptly restrict access to the phone. In Maine, where some legislators originally proposed a prohibition of school day, legislators are now considering a rewritten bill that would only require a policy.
And there have been some states where legislators did not act at all. Perhaps the most dramatic was in Wyoming, where senators rejected a bill in January, and some opponents say that teachers or parents should establish the rules.
Where policy formulators have advanced, there is a growing consensus around exceptions. Most states allow students to use electronic devices to monitor medical needs and meet the terms of their special education plans. Some are allowing exceptions for translation devices if English is not the first language of a student or when a teacher wants students to use class work devices.
There are also some unusual exceptions. The original South Carolina policy allowed an exception for students who are volunteer firefighters. West Virginia’s new law allows smart watches as long as they are not being used for communication.
Some parents and students oppose the rules
But, with much, the exception of greater profile has been to allow the use of cell phones in case of emergencies. One of the objections of the parents most common to a prohibition is that they could not contact their child in a crisis like a shooting at school.
“It was only through text messages that parents knew what was happening,” said Tinya Brown, whose daughter is a first -year student at Apalachee high school, northeast of Atlanta, where a shooting killed two students and two teachers in September. She spoke against Georgia’s law at a press conference in March.
Some laws require that schools find other ways for parents to communicate with their children in schools, but most legislators say they support students access to their cell phones, at least after the immediate danger has passed, during an emergency.
In some states, students have testified in favor of regulations, but it is also clear that many students, especially in secondary schools, are begging under the rules. Kaytlin Villescas, a second year student at Prairieville High School, in the suburbs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a student who fought against the prohibitions, began a petition and tells WBRZ-TV in August that the Louisian law that requires a prohibition of the school day is wrong. She argued that schools should teach responsible use.
“It is our proposal that, instead of prohibiting the use of cell phones completely, schools must teach guidelines on responsible use, thus building a culture of respect and self -regulation,” Villascas wrote in an online petition.
Most states do not provide funds to carry out laws
Some states have provided money for districts to buy blockable telephone storage bags or other storage solutions. New York, for example, plans to spend $ 13.5 million. But states have generally not provided effective. New Hampshire legislators eliminated the $ 1 million proposed from their invoice.
“Providing some specific money for this would relieve some of those implementation challenges,” said Hoffman. “That said, most states have not done it.”
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Associated Press Beckre Bohrero reporters in Juneau, Alaska; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut; Jack hard on Bismarck, North Dakota; And Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed.
