Majority of US states now have laws banning or regulating cellphones in schools, with more to follow

By JEFF AMY ATLANTA AP Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in Just two years later more than half of all states have laws in place with more likely to act soon Related Articles OpenAI recruits legendary iPhone designer Jony Ive to work on AI hardware in B deal Fortnite video match returns to iPhone app store in U S ending exile imposed by Apple House Republicans include a -year ban on US states regulating AI in big beautiful bill Like it or not the Like button has changed the world Elon Musk s AI company says Grok chatbot focus on South Africa s racial politics was unauthorized Bills have sprinted through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma reflecting a broad consensus that phones are bad for kids Connecticut state Rep Jennifer Leeper a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly s Schooling Committee on May called phones a cancer on our kids that are driving isolation loneliness decreasing attention and having major impacts both on social-emotional well-being but also learning Republicans express similar sentiments This is a not just an academic bill Republican Rep Scott Hilton commented after Georgia s bill which only bans phones in grades K- passed in March This is a mental robustness bill It s a inhabitants safety bill So far states have passed laws with eight other states and the District of Columbia implementing rules or making recommendations to local districts Of the states have acted this year Just Tuesday Nebraska Republican Gov Jim Pillen signed a law banning phones throughout the school day Earlier Tuesday Alaska lawmakers required schools to regulate cellphones when they overrode an schooling package Republican Gov Mike Dunleavy had vetoed for unrelated reasons More action is coming as bills await a governor s signature or veto in Florida Missouri Nebraska and New Hampshire Increasing focus on banning phones throughout the school day When Florida first acted lawmakers ordered schools to ban phones during instructional time while allowing them between classes or at lunch But now there s another bill awaiting Gov Ron DeSantis action that goes further It would ban phones for the entire school day for elementary and middle schools Ten states and the District of Columbia have enacted school day bans bulk for students in grades K- and they now outnumber the seven states with instructional time bans North Dakota Republican Gov Kelly Armstrong called the ban throughout the school day that he signed into law a huge win Students react as North Dakota Republican Gov Kelly Armstrong hands a pen to a girl after he signed a bill for a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for populace school K- students on Friday April at Centennial Elementary School in Bismarck N D To the right of the governor is first lady Kjersti Armstrong Republican Sen Michelle Axtman is at left Republican Rep Jim Jonas is at right AP Photo Jack Dura Teachers desired it Parents required it Principals requested it School boards demanded it Armstrong declared Armstrong in recent months visited a grade school with such a ban in place He declared he saw kids engaging with each other and tittering at tables during lunch The bell-to-bell bans have been promoted in part by ExcelinEd the guidance think tank founded by former Florida Gov Jeb Bush The group s political affiliate has been developing in lobbying for bans Nathan Hoffman ExcelinEd s senior director of state guidelines and advocacy declared barring phones throughout the day heads off problems outside of class like when students set up or record fights in halls That s often when you get chosen of your biggest behavioral issues whether they go viral or not Hoffman commented Other states want school districts to set their own rules But other states particularly where there are strong traditions of local school control are mandating only that school districts adopt several kind of cellphone guidelines believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access In Maine where specific lawmakers originally proposed a school day ban lawmakers are now considering a rewritten bill that would only require a plan And there have been a limited states where lawmakers failed to act at all Maybe the greater part dramatic was in Wyoming where senators voted down a bill in January with several opponents saying teachers or parents should set the rules Where policymakers have moved ahead there s a growing consensus around exceptions The greater part states are letting students use electronic devices to monitor medicinal demands and meet the terms of their special coaching plans Specific are allowing exceptions for translation devices if English isn t a apprentice s first language or when a facilitator wants students to use devices for classwork There are specific peculiar exceptions too South Carolina s original initiative allowed an exception for students who are volunteer firefighters West Virginia s new law allows smartwatches as long as they are not being used for communication Various parents and students oppose the rules But by far the greater part high-profile exception has been allowing cellphone use in episode of emergencies One of the preponderance common parent objections to a ban is that they would not be able to contact their child in a dilemma like a school shooting It was only through text messages that parents knew what was happening disclosed Tinya Brown whose daughter is a freshman 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 news conference in March Particular laws call for schools to find other strategies for parents to communicate with their children at schools but the majority lawmakers say they assistance giving students access to their cellphones at least after the immediate danger has passed during an crisis In a few states students have testified in favor of regulations but it s also clear that numerous students especially in high schools are chafing under the rules Kaytlin Villescas a sophomore at Prairieville High School in the suburbs of Baton Rouge Louisiana is one trainee who took up the fight against bans starting a petition and telling WBRZ-TV in August that Louisiana s law requiring a school day ban is misguided She argued that schools should instead teach responsible use It is our proposition that rather than banning cellphone use entirely schools should impart guidelines on responsible use thereby building a society of respect and self-regulation Villescas wrote in an online petition Largest part states provide no funding to carry out laws A limited states have provided money for districts to buy lockable phone storage pouches or other storage solutions New York for example plans to spend million But states have typically provided no cash New Hampshire lawmakers stripped a proposed million from their bill Providing various specific money for this would kind of ease chosen of those implementation challenges Hoffman stated That announced majority states have not Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau Alaska Susan Haigh in Hartford Connecticut Jack Dura in Bismarck North Dakota and Kate Payne in Tallahassee Florida contributed to this assessment