LOCALIZE IT: Students in many states are returning to school with new restrictions on cellphones
EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
As students start school this year, 17 states and the District of Columbia are imposing new cellphone restrictions. In total, 35 states have passed laws or rules to limit student phone use in schools.
Florida was the first state to pass a law limiting phones in classrooms in 2023, but the movement has spread rapidly. A few more states could still act this year, including Massachusetts.
The push has been supported by Republicans and Democrats due to concerns about phones affecting mental health and learning. States have increasingly enacted full-day bans, also called “bell-to-bell” bans, although Georgia and Florida are only requiring such “bell-to-bell” bans for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Another seven states are banning the use of devices during class time, but not between classes or during lunch periods. In some cases, those laws don’t take effect until next year, but districts are acting before the 2025-2026 school year starts.
Other states, particularly those with traditions of local school control, are mandating only that schools adopt some kind of cellphone policy. A few states have yet to act. But in many cases, school districts in those states are also moving to restrict or ban cellphone use even thought the state does not require action. Also, in states that require instructional time bans, some districts are choosing to implement school day bans.
Students have mixed feelings, with some appreciating fewer distractions. Some parents express concerns about safety and communication, wanting more involvement in policy decisions. Researchers say that it’s too soon yet to determine whether phone restrictions will bring all the benefits that supporters seek.
___
READ AP’S STORY
Students face new cellphone restrictions in 17 states as school year begins
___
FIND YOUR STATE: LAWS OR RULES LIMITING STUDENT PHONE USE IN SCHOOL
You can view a map of these policies here. An embed code can be found at the end of this guide.
These states have enacted a school day or bell-to-bell ban: Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Florida (instructional time ban only in grades 9-12), Georgia (grades K-8 only, no law for grades 9-12), Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia
These states have enacted a ban during instructional time: Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia
These states require recommend or require a local policy: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington
These states have no law or recommended policy, although lawmakers may be considering bills this year: Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Wyoming
___
SUGGESTED REPORTING QUESTIONS
— How do parents, particularly of students in high school, feel about the restrictions? Do they have concerns about being able to reach their students in an emergency, including if there was a school shooting? Do parents feel like they were adequately consulted? What are schools doing to facilitate other kinds of communication?
— How do students feel about the rules? Do they say they are paying more attention in class or socializing differently than before? Are they finding ways around bans, like giving “dummy” phones to be locked up but keeping their real phones?
— Are schools spending money to buy magnetic pouches or cellphone lockers to hold phones, or are they just requiring students to leave phones at home or keep them put away? Do teachers feel that pouches or lockers are better options because they will then spend less time policing cellphone use in class? Similarly, do they like state or district policies because it makes enforcing rules in their own classroom easier?
— Has a union or association representing local teachers called for restrictions on cellphones?
— For schools that started restrictions before this year, can they point to statistical improvements? Are the number of discipline referrals or fights down? Have grades gone up?
— Are schools combining cellphone bans with other policies to improve student engagement and socialization? For example, some schools have offered board games at lunch or after school.
___
EMBED THIS GRAPHIC
This AP digital embed map shows public school cellphone policies by state. As students start school this year, 17 states and the District of Columbia are imposing new cellphone restrictions. In total, 35 states have passed laws or rules to limit student phone use in schools, with 29 states taking action this year. This map is current as of Aug. 19, 2025, and will not update. Source: AP reports.
To embed, insert this code into your CMS:
!– start AP embed —
iframe title=“Keeping phones out of class” aria-label=“Choropleth map” id=“ap-chart-293m3” src=“https://interactives.ap.org/embeds/293m3/15/” scrolling=“no” width=“100%” style=“border:none” height=“550″/iframescript type=“text/javascript”!function()(“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(e)(if(void 0!==e.data(“datawrapper-height”))(var t=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var a in e.data(“datawrapper-height”))for(var r=0;rt.length;r++)(if(t(r).contentWindow===e.source)t(r).style.height=e.data(“datawrapper-height”)(a)+“px”))))))();/script
!– end AP embed —
___
READ ADDITIONAL AP REPORTING
Majority of US states now have laws banning or regulating cellphones in schools, with more to follow
Banning cellphones in schools gains popularity in red and blue states
Schools are competing with cellphones. Here’s how they think they could win
___
Localize It is a resource produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to the Local News Success team at localizeit@ap.org.
