California lawmakers have passed landmark legislation requiring schools to come up with plans to limit or ban student cell phone use on campus, with the goal of eliminating classroom disruptions and harmful social media use.
Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill, which would order the 1,000 school districts, charter schools and county education offices across the state to draft policies by July 1, 2026.
“It’s not very prescriptive,” said Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), who introduced the bill. “We clearly need districts to act by implementing policies to limit smartphone use, but we’re not telling them exactly how to do that.”
Many school districts have created their own policies to limit calls in and out of the classroom, with continued success and adaptation. In the battle to define what works and what doesn’t, the legislation holds promise but may result in a hazy policy in districts across the country. And for schools that do adopt bans, some crafty students find ways around them.
Here are the details of California’s Call Free Schools Act:
What is the mandate of the bill?
The bill was created from Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi’s (D-Torrance) 2019 legislation that would have allowed school districts to adopt policies to limit or ban smartphone use in schools. In the new step, limits will be required.
Schools must consult students, parents and educators to create a policy and update it every five years. It aims to support “student learning and well-being” in line with “evidence-based smartphone practice,” the move said.
The policy authorizes schools to use devices such as lockers or lock phone pouches to enforce the policy when students are on campus or under the supervision of a district employee, such as in the field.
The bill also clarifies that schools cannot access, collect or monitor students’ online activities. The measure does not establish such rules, but instead directs school districts to restrict or ban them on their own.
What are the emergencies during the school day?
Students are still allowed access to their phones during emergencies. The law, however, does not say that the phone must be the student’s own device — and it is up to the school district to decide what constitutes an emergency.
LA Unified Supt. Alberto Carvalho said the district is working on what scenarios will be defined as an emergency and how it can give students “reasonable access” to phones in those situations.
Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), co-author of the bill, said that policies can be different for different emergencies – such as active shooters versus earthquakes. Regardless, they understand the desire of students and parents to connect after an emergency.
Are there other exceptions?
The law prohibits schools from banning smartphones when a licensed physician or surgeon determines that a phone is essential to a student’s health or well-being. Phone calls may be permitted if necessary for a student’s individual education program.
Students learning English, for example, can rely on the device to learn, just as students with diabetes need a phone to monitor their glucose levels, Carvalho said.
The law also gives teachers and administrators permission to change school district policies, effectively making their own policies.
How will schools pay for phone “lockers” or other enforcement tools?
A big concern with the ban is equity, especially when some schools can’t afford the tools to help enforce it.
“For a small school like ours, it’s about $20,000,” said Girls Academic Leadership Academy Principal Liz Ackerman-Hicks of the decision not to implement the popular Yondr pouch, which uses magnets to lock and unlock pouches that hold phones. “It can pay for a lot of after-school tutoring and after-school activities.”
With LAUSD’s new policy set to go into effect in January, LA school board member Nick Melvoin said the district is considering reimbursing schools that have already paid the fee and paying for implementation.
Because the law is a state mandate, schools can apply for state reimbursement or use existing funds specifically to pay for services required by law.
What do educators think about the law?
Although teachers maintain that the phone ban has been beneficial to the classroom, they insist that it cannot be a mandate that is not supported. It is important, he said, that the enforcement burden is not imposed and that it eliminates instructional time.
David Goldberg, president of the California Teacher Assn., said the union supports limiting smartphone use on campus but added that districts should consult with students and their families when making policies.
“Educators care deeply about the well-being of their students and their families and should be included in decisions about changes in our school community,” Goldberg said in a statement to The Times.
Educators such as KJ STEM Academy teacher Ajaya Ram added that if parents buy into the policy, they can also take steps to limit student phone use, such as setting parental controls that limit access to certain apps during school.
California Assn. of School Boards, however, opposed the Bill. Spokesman Troy Flint said the move takes authority away from school district leaders who can do their own research and decide whether limiting or banning phones won’t benefit students.
The group intends to ask Newsom to veto the bill, but if it passes, Flint said he will support the school district and monitor the law’s impact and unintended consequences.
What did the students say?
Although students understand the rationale behind the stricter policy — agreeing that phones are a distraction — many think an outright ban is the solution.
If students do not have a say in the new policy, the school may have trouble with compliance, said students who attended California Supt. Tony Thurmond’s Task Force General Instructions to Close the Digital Divide meeting Tuesday.
“For my friends, they will say that they must have been struggling because the Yondr pouch came out of nowhere and we didn’t know what was going on,” said the eighth-grader at Bayside Academy, a K-8 school in San Mateo. “Their focus is then trying to find a way around the policy and figuring out how not to use the pouch.”
If students saw the policy as a consensus, rather than a punishment, he said many others would be on board. They also recommend that schools provide positive behavioral incentives, such as bag-free days, to reward student compliance.
Middle school students on the panel said elementary, middle and high schools provide “very different” environments that need to be taken into account when creating phone policies.
“The state of California has 2 million high school students,” said Mia George, a senior at Folsom High School. “If they’re going to tell those 2 million kids what to do from ninth grade to 12th grade, when are those students going to be able to make those decisions for themselves?”
Trinidad Menchu, a recent graduate of Dorsey Senior High, said his phone helps him concentrate during independent work because it allows him to listen to music. She added that her teachers don’t usually lead by example, scrolling on their own phones during that time.
Sadie and Piper Hoodenpyle, students at the Girls’ Academic Leadership Academy, added that phones can be useful for taking pictures of lecture slides, filming telenovelas in Spanish and checking weightlifting form. He has also been a lifeline in case of emergency, he added, to make sure his siblings are okay and to keep his parents safe.
The Bayside eighth-grader suggested that schools put Yondr magnets in every classroom so students can unlock their phones in case of an emergency.
