SACRAMENTO, Calif. — School districts in California must create rules that limit student smartphone use under a new law signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday.
The law makes California the latest state to try to block student phone access in an effort to reduce classroom disruptions and address the mental health impact of social media on children. Florida, Louisiana, Indiana and several other states have passed laws to restrict student phone use in schools.
“This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not screens, during school,” Newsom said in a statement.
But some critics of the phone restriction policy say the burden shouldn’t be borne by teachers. Others worry that the rule will make it harder for students to seek help in an emergency or argue that decisions about phone bans should be left up to districts or schools.
“We support those districts that have acted independently to implement restrictions because, after reviewing the needs of their stakeholders, they have determined that it is best for their communities in terms of safety, school culture and academic achievement,” Troy Flint said. , a spokesman for the California School Boards Association. “We’re just fighting the mandate.”
The law requires districts to implement rules by July 1, 2026, to limit or prohibit students from using smartphones on campus or when students are under the supervision of school staff. The district must update the policy every five years after that.
The move comes after Newsom signed legislation in 2019 authorizing school districts to limit student phone access. In June, he announced plans to address the issue again after the US surgeon general called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their influence on young people.
The governor then sent a letter to the district last month, asking them to limit the use of student devices on campus. It comes as the state’s second-largest school district board, Los Angeles Unified, voted to ban student phone use during the school day starting in January.
Assemblyman Josh Hoover, a Republican who represents Folsom, introduced the bill with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are also parents.
The call was limited to where the Hoover children — ages 15, 12 and 10 — go to school. Many students are not always happy with the policy, which is a reflection of how addictive the phone is, he said.
“Anytime you talk about disrupting that addiction, it’s going to be difficult for students,” Hoover said. “But I think for the most part they understand why it’s important, why it helps them focus more in class and why it helps them have better social interactions with their peers while they’re at school.”
Some parents have worried that the school’s cell phone ban could cut off their children in the event of an emergency. Those fears were highlighted after a shooting at a Georgia high school left four dead and nine injured this month.
A 2019 law that authorized districts to limit student phone access made an exception for emergency situations, and the new law doesn’t change that. Some supporters of school phone restrictions say it is better to have the phone off in the event of an active shooter, so that they do not ring and reveal the location of students.
Teachers have reported seeing more engaged students since the Santa Barbara Unified School District began implementing a ban on student phone use in the classroom during the 2023-24 school year, said Assistant Superintendent ShaKenya Edison.
Nick Melvoin, the Los Angeles Unified board member who introduced the district’s resolution, said passing a policy at the district or state level could help students not feel like they’re missing out on what’s happening on social media.
Before student cell phone use was banned during the school day at Sutter Middle School in Folsom, students were seen recording fights, filming TikTok challenges and spending their lunch hours looking at online content, Principal Tarik McFall said. The rule “totally changed the culture” of the school so that students talked to each other more, he said.
“To get away from it, to be able to kill it and get it into practice, that’s really cool,” McFall said.
Teachers have become more reliant in recent years 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, based in Sacramento, provides Chromebooks to students in first through 12th grade, where they can access online textbooks and Google Classroom, a platform where teachers share classroom materials. But if students forget their Chromebooks at home, smartphones become “the next option for accessing the curriculum,” Harvey said.
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Austin is a corps member of 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 report on hidden issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna
