California becomes latest state to restrict students’ smartphone use in school

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California school districts will have to create rules limiting students’ use of smartphones under a new law signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

California is the latest state to attempt to limit students’ access to cell phones in an effort to minimize classroom distractions and combat the effects of social media on children’s mental health. Florida, Louisiana, Indiana and several other states have passed laws aimed at restricting students’ use of cell phones in school.

“This new law will help students focus on their academics, social development and the world around them, not their screens, while they are in school,” Newsom said in a statement.

Some critics of the phone bans, however, say the onus should not fall on teachers to enforce them. Others worry that the rules make it harder for students to call for help in emergencies or say that decisions about banning phones should be left to individual districts or schools.

“We support districts that have already acted independently to implement restrictions because, after considering the needs of their stakeholders, they determined it was the best course of action for their communities in terms of safety, school culture and academic achievement,” said Troy Flint, a spokesman for the California School Boards Association. “We simply oppose this action.”

The law requires districts to adopt rules by July 1, 2026, to limit or prohibit students from using their smartphones on campus or while under the supervision of school staff. Districts will then have to update their policies every five years.

The move comes after Newsom signed a law in 2019 allowing school districts to restrict students’ access to phones. In June, he announced plans to resume the subject after the United States Surgeon General called the Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people.

The governor then sent letters to districts Last month, calling for limits on students’ use of electronic devices on campus. The move came on the day the board of the nation’s second-largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, voted to ban students’ use of phones during the school day starting in January.

Rep. Josh Hoover, a Republican representing Folsom, introduced the bill with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are also parents.

Cellphone use is banned in the schools where Hoover’s children, ages 15, 12 and 10, attend. Many students still resent the policy, reflecting in part the addictive nature of cellphones, he said.

“Anytime you talk about ending this addiction, it’s definitely going to be difficult for students at times,” Hoover said. “But I think overall, they understand why it’s important, why it helps them focus better in their classes and why it actually helps them have better social interactions with their peers face to face when they’re in school.”

Some parents fear that banning cellphones at school could cut them off from their children in an emergency. These fears have been highlighted after a shooting at a Georgia high school left four dead and nine injured this month.

The 2019 law allowing districts to restrict student access to cellphones included exceptions for emergencies, and the new law doesn’t change that. Some proponents of cellphone restrictions in schools say it’s better to turn off cellphones in the event of a shooting, so they don’t ring and reveal a student’s location.

Teachers have reported seeing more engaged students since the Santa Barbara Unified School District began fully implementing a ban on student phone use in the classroom in the 2023-24 school year, Deputy Superintendent ShaKenya Edison said.

Nick Melvoin, a Los Angeles Unified board member who introduced the district’s resolution, said adopting policies at the district or state level can help prevent students from feeling like they’re missing out on what’s happening on social media.

Before cellphone use was banned for students during the school day at Sutter Middle School in Folsom, students were seen filming fights, doing TikTok challenges and spending their lunch breaks watching online content, Principal Tarik McFall said. The rule has “totally changed the culture” of the school, so students spend more time talking to each other, he said.

“Putting them away, turning them off and putting them into practice is a great thing,” McFall said.

In recent years, teachers have become more reliant on technology as a learning tool for students, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mara Harvey, a social studies teacher at Discovery High School in the Natomas Unified School District.

The district, located in Sacramento, provides first- through 12th-graders with Chromebooks, on which they can access online textbooks and Google Classroom, a platform where teachers share course materials. But if a student forgets their Chromebook at home, their smartphone becomes “the next viable choice for them to access the curriculum,” Harvey said.

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Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover under-covered stories. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna