The Culture
Bipartisan bill seeks to ban cellphones in schools nationwide
By Lauren Lumpkin The Washington Post
Published Oct. 2, 2026
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A new bipartisan effort could create a national ban on cellphones during the school day, the most sweeping attempt yet to keep screens out of classrooms.
The bill, filed Wednesday by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), would send money to states that adopt policies barring students from using personal devices - including cellphones, smartwatches, tablets and similar technology - during the school day.
If the legislation is approved by lawmakers, states would be able to use the funding to enforce device bans, including paying for lockers, lockboxes or pouches for students to store their devices. The legislation makes exceptions for children who need devices for special education or medical needs.
"Arkansas kids deserve classrooms free of distractions," Cotton said in a statement. "This bill would support Arkansas public schools that choose to tailor their classroom cellphone guidance to ensure students have the most productive school days possible."
Cellphone bans have become popular in recent years, with most states enacting policies designed to restrict cellphone use in schools. Students are often required to stow their devices in lockers or locked pouches during the school day.
Supporters of these rules hoped keeping phones out of the classroom would help students focus, boost test scores and improve mental health. But the results have been mixed.
While cellphone bans have reduced unauthorized usage in schools, there has been little academic benefit, according to research by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
This could be because students are getting distracted by other technology, such as finding ways to chat with friends on school-issued laptops and tablets, said Thomas Dee, a Stanford University professor and one of the authors of the report.
"We simply need to learn more about how to manage technology in the lives of students," Dee said. He added that banning cellphones alone will not fix all the problems children face at school.
"I think that what we see is a great deal of understandable concern from parents, and politicians are responding to that," Dee said. "Ultimately, what matters here is do we have high-quality environments for our kids? What do you do when the phones are away?"
And, in some cases, teens reported using their phones more often at school, particularly at schools with lax enforcement, according to a recent survey published by the Brookings Institution. Students in that survey also said cellphone bans had no impact on their happiness, stress or relationships with teachers.
The most effective bans are the kind that Kelly and Cotton have proposed - where students are required to lock their phones away during the entire school day, often called "bell-to-bell" bans, said Daniel Silver, a research scientist at the University of Southern California's Center for Applied Research in Education, which conducted the survey.
"We still find evidence that these policies are at least doing something," Silver said, adding that the promise of cash from the federal government "could empower state leaders and superintendents to give more consideration to stronger versions of these policies."
A spokesperson for Kelly said the measure is intended to give schools the resources to make phone bans work and enforce them consistently. While no single policy will solve every challenge in the classroom, reducing distractions can help, the spokesperson said.
"Phones in schools have been a disaster for learning," the senator said in a statement emailed to The Washington Post. "Getting phones out of classrooms will mean fewer distractions and more time for kids to focus on their teachers and lessons. We're giving schools the tools to make that happen."
Some advocates continue to link cellphone use with grades. Amid declining math and reading scores among teenagers, more than half of public school leaders say cellphone usage hurts a student's academic performance, federal survey results show.
The U.S. Surgeon General's office has also warned that excessive screen use can lead to anxiety, depression, lower grades and weakened interpersonal relationships.
The American Federation of Teachers union has thrown its support behind the federal proposal.
"Teachers and parents agree: ‘Devices down and eyes up' is the recipe that enables connection to others and learning," Randi Weingarten, its president, said in a statement. "Kelly and Cotton's legislation offers schools that want to build bell-to-bell cell phone policies the resources to do it thoughtfully while ensuring that parent and teacher engagement is at the heart of the process every step of the way."
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