California legislators on Wednesday passed a bill that would require school districts to implement a series of restrictions on students’ cell phone usage during the school day.
The bipartisan bill, the Phone-Free Schools Act, gives districts until July 1, 2026, “to develop and adopt … a policy to limit or prohibit the use by its pupils of smartphones while the pupils are at a schoolsite or while the pupils are under the supervision and control of an employee or employees of that school district, county office of education, or charter school.” Districts would be required to update their policies every five years.
