Texas bill would ban K-12 students from using cell phones during school hours

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Lawmakers want Texas to join a growing number of states in restricting public school students from using their cellphones during the school day, answering calls from educators who say the state needs to remove distractions from the classroom.

Under House Bill 1481, introduced by Rep. Caroline Fairly of Amarillo, K-12 public school students wouldn’t be allowed to use their cellphones during the regular school day. It comes as at least eight states have enacted similar bans in the past two years, including Democrat-led states like California and Republican-led states like Arkansas.

The bans come as parents have become more worried about the negative mental health impacts of cyberbullying and youths’ social media use.

The bill is co-sponsored by a majority of the Texas House, including both Democrats and Republicans. Fairly, a Republican and the only Gen Z member of the Texas Legislature, said she introduced the legislation because she was “born into these devices” and understands the distraction they can cause in the classroom.

“When you see what is being pushed on social media and the distraction it causes in the classroom, there is a need for our government to support our educators in this,” Fairly said in an interview with The Texas Tribune on Tuesday.

Fairly added she hopes the ban will help improve students’ mental health and academic outcomes.

A growing body of research in recent years has suggested that cellphone use in schools can cause students to have trouble engaging in the classroom and have shorter attention spans. Several Texas school districts already have cellphone bans in place. Rancier Middle School in Killeen ISD, about 75 miles north of Austin, is one school that did so recently.

Rancier’s principal, Janelle Muhammad, said her school banned cellphone use at the start of the current school year in part to address rising cyberbullying concerns and in-person fights among students, which she said were often arranged or recorded via cellphones.

Students in the district now place their phones in pouches provided by the school at the start of each day, Muhammad said. Throughout the school day, students can keep that pouch in their backpacks, she added, which allows parents to track their phones and location.

During a House Public Education Committee hearing Tuesday, Muhammad testified that parents and students “went through the five stages of grievance” when the ban went into effect but eventually adjusted to the policy. She told lawmakers that since the policy has been in place, the number of in-person fights and cyberbullying incidents has gone down.

“Students are now fully engaged [in learning] without the constant pull of social media,” Muhammad said. “Students are engaging in more face-to-face interactions [and] building real connection rather than relying [on] digital communication.”

HB 1481 would provide some flexibility for school districts, allowing them to decide whether to allow cellphone use during extracurricular activities. Schools would also be able to decide whether they want to restrict cellphone use by prohibiting students from bringing their devices to school or designating a “secure storage” space for the devices.

The ban would also restrict use of any device “capable of telecommunication or digital communication,” like a smartwatch, flip phone or pager.

Some students would be exempt from the ban. According to HB 1481, students in certain special education settings would be allowed to use their cellphones if they are needed for their instruction or if a physician says a student needs the device.

Some who testified Tuesday said that barring students from using their phones during the entire school day was too restrictive. An earlier version of the bill, filed in December, banned cellphone use during “instructional time” rather than the “school day,” meaning it left the door open for students to use their devices when they were outside the classroom.

Tricia Cave, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, told committee members that while her organization backed the original version of the bill, they do not support the new language banning cellphone use throughout the entirety of the school day. She said while she still supports the purpose of the bill, the new language is “overly prescriptive.”

Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, said during Tuesday’s hearing that she worried a cellphone ban was a step too far and would make it more difficult for students to contact law enforcement or their parents in situations where their safety was threatened. She referenced the mass shooting at Uvalde Elementary School in 2022, when students called law enforcement to alert them.

Some who testified Tuesday also said the bill would create an “unfunded mandate” by forcing school districts to comply with a new policy while not being provided the funds to do so. Mary Lowe, co-founder of the nonprofit Families Engaged for Effective Education, said that by adding a new requirement for school districts without new funding, HB 1481 would also take away some local control from these districts to determine their own cellphone policies.

Fairly said she is open to adding new funding to the bill.

The bill, if signed into law, would take effect at the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Disclosure: Association of Texas Professional Educators has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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