Ten primary-source policy documents: signed laws, governor press releases, and the authoritative trackers. As of April 2026, 41 US states have enacted cellphone laws or policies — with California AB 3216 taking effect July 1, 2026.
California's AB 3216 (the Phone-Free Schools Act), signed September 23, 2024, requires every school district to adopt a smartphone restriction policy by July 1, 2026. Makes California the largest state to legislate phone-free schools.
California has the largest K-12 student population in the US. The signing set a national precedent and was widely cited in other states' legislative debates in 2025.
New York enacted a bell-to-bell statewide cellphone ban for the 2025-26 school year. Prohibits smartphones and internet-enabled devices during the entire school day including lunch and study hall. $13.5 million allocated for storage solutions.
As the nation's most populous state with the largest urban school system, New York's adoption of a bell-to-bell ban was the biggest single policy action in the movement's history.
The NYCLU opposed New York's bell-to-bell ban. Arguments: increases the risk of police searches, disproportionate discipline of students of color, and the school-to-prison pipeline — while failing to provide the mental health counselors students actually need.
Essential counter-perspective from a major civil liberties organization. Documents the civil rights case against blanket bans and the enforcement mechanisms that can harm vulnerable students.
Indiana's HEA 1185, signed March 12, 2024, requires all districts to ban wireless devices during instructional time — with each district designing its own enforcement plan. The 2026 expansion (SB 78) extends this to full bell-to-bell.
Indiana's law was a model for the "local-control with state mandate" approach many subsequent states adopted.
Louisiana SB 207, signed by Governor Jeff Landry, prohibits students from possessing a cellular device on their person throughout the entire instructional day — one of the strictest state policies enacted.
Notable for its strict "possession" standard (phones must be put away, not just silenced), setting a precedent for enforcement language in other state bills.
Florida HB 379, signed May 2023, banned social media access on school Wi-Fi, required teachers to designate phone-storage areas during class, and prohibited TikTok on district-owned devices. Passed the legislature unanimously.
Florida was an early-mover state that became the lab for the Figlio/Özek NBER study. Its law's unanimous passage illustrates the bipartisan nature of the issue even in a highly polarized legislature.
Living tracker of every state's cellphone policy, bill text, and enactment date. 22 states enacted K-12 cellphone bans in 2025 alone — the fastest policy diffusion in recent education history.
The definitive non-partisan reference for state-by-state policy comparison. Cited by researchers, journalists, and legislators as the authoritative map of where laws stand.
Living tracker maintained by Education Week documenting at least 37 states and D.C. requiring school districts to ban or restrict cellphone use as of April 2026.
Primary reference cited by practitioners and the news media. Granular detail helps distinguish "ban during class" from "bell-to-bell" from "district-discretion" approaches.
KFF contextualizes the state-law wave within the broader youth mental health crisis — noting both the rationale (surgeon general advisories, UNESCO guidance) and important cautions about enforcement equity and the limited evidence base.
KFF occupies a trusted, nonpartisan space between health policy and public opinion. Their framing is influential with state health agencies and Medicaid policy offices that interact with school mental health funding.
The Department released Planning Together: A Playbook for Student Personal Device Policies, formally recommending that every district adopt a cellphone policy and providing a stakeholder-engagement framework.
The federal government's official endorsement of phone-free school policies — the most authoritative policy document available for arguing this is a national priority, not just a state-level trend.