Crackdown on cellphones in schools gaining traction in Senate

The Massachusetts Senate is getting ready to debate a bill that would ban cell phone use in schools. 22 News state house reporter Olivia Ray has the details on the legislation and how it could change Bay State classrooms. The Senate half of the state house committee on education advanced a bill that would largely ban cell phones in K through2 classrooms this week. The debate over benefits and harms of cell phones for minors has been a point of contention on Beacon Hill for months. Some senators like Westfield Senator John Vis say phones in schools create distractions to learning and negatively affect mental health. Others say it's a necessary tool for parents to get in touch with their kids and it should be up to individual families to set boundaries. This Senate bill is not a blanket ban. It would require all districts to employ a bell-to-bell ban starting in fall 2026, but would leave it up to the districts to determine what exceptions will work for them. Among the options for exceptions are granting limited access to multilingual learners and students with disabilities and granting full access to students with medical issues like diabetes that require constant monitoring. Restrictions can also be different based on grade level. The bill is backed by the Senate President and she said, quote, "The cell phone is one of the most distracting devices ever created. Overwhelming evidence shows us that cell phones are major barriers to student growth and achievement in the classroom. If this bill were to pass, Massachusetts would join roughly half of the states in the country who have cracked down on phones in schools." The co-chair of the Education Committee says we can expect Senate debate on this bill by the end of July. Working for you from the state house in Boston.