Alabama students could face a statewide ban on cell phone use during the school day as soon as the 2026–27 school year under a new bill aimed at reducing classroom distractions and improving academic outcomes.
Rep. Patrick Sellers, D-Pleasant Grove, said he has heard from school officials telling him how intrusive and distracting cell phones are when students use them during the school day.
“If academics and academic success is our priority, then let’s make sure that the educators and administrators have all the tools they need to make sure our kids are successful,” Sellers told Alabama Daily News.
Sellers’ bill, HB65, would require the Alabama Board of Education to create a model policy that, at a minimum, “prohibits public K–12 students from using an electronic communication device during the school day.” The bill allows exceptions in case of an emergency or if using the device is part of a student’s Individualized Education Program or 504 plan.
Pushback
Alabama Association of School Boards Director Sally Smith said she appreciates Sellers giving the responsibility to districts to choose how to restrict phone usage. But she said she isn’t sure the law is needed.
“We think school boards are already handling this,” she said.
Smith referenced a survey the state department of education conducted over the summer, asking school superintendents if they had a policy in place restricting cell phone usage at school. Of the 133 superintendents that responded, 94% had some type of restriction on cell phones.
Rep. Leigh Hulsey, R-Helena, filed a similar bill, HB364, during the 2024 legislative session. That bill restricted the use of technology at school and required school officials to adopt a cell phone policy banning “student possession or use of cell phones” during instructional time. The bill made it out of the House Education Policy committee and then stalled.
Student cell phone use is an issue of concern not just in Alabama, but across the country. Eight states have laws or policies banning or restricting cell phone use in schools: California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia.
Citing the national concern over the impact of cell phones on student learning and discipline, the Alabama Board of Education in February passed a resolution — which is the administrative procedure they use to push public school leaders into action — encouraging, but not requiring, local boards of education to adopt a policy restricting cell phone use in schools.
Sellers said the state board’s cell phone resolution doesn’t go far enough.
“It just doesn’t have enough teeth in it,” he said.
He said he expects some pushback from parents, particularly having to do with school safety.
“If (parents) are worried about safety and contact or communication if there is an event, schools already have safety plans and plans of communication that are already in place,” Sellers said.
Montgomery schools were the first to adopt a districtwide policy at the start of the 2023–24 school year. Officials said the ban had a host of benefits, including a decrease in disciplinary incidents.
Other schools have since banned cell phone use during the school day, and most districts have banned the use of phones during instruction through their code of conduct or explicit policy language.
A range of negative impacts have been attributed to cell phone use in schools, including cyberbullying, instigating fights on campus and even making it easier to cheat. More than 70% of high school teachers say cell phone distraction is a major problem in their classrooms, according to a Pew Research study.
Support ‘on both sides of the aisle’
A more recent Pew Research study found seven in 10 adults are in favor of a ban on cell phone use during instructional time, but only one-third of those adults favored an all-day ban.
Sellers said he’s spoken with other lawmakers and that has “support on both sides of the aisle.”
The legislative session starts Feb. 4.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Trisha Powell Crain and originally published by Alabama Daily News. It is reprinted with permission.
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