Mass. Senate passes school cell phone ban

A statewide ban on cell phones in public schools took one step closer to becoming reality Thursday, when members of the state Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation that would implement such a ban. 

Bans on school cell phones are gaining momentum across the country, and that growing support is present in Massachusetts as well. Seven individual bills were filed by senators at the beginning of the current legislative session that would implement some form of school cell phone ban. Last session, not a single bill to that effect was filed with the education committee, according to Sen. Jason Lewis. 

Lawmakers coalesced those various pieces of legislation into the bill that was brought up for a vote Thursday. It passed with a 38-2 vote, and will now head to the House of Representatives for consideration. 

If passed by lawmakers in the House and signed by Gov. Maura Healey, the bill would require all public school districts to adopt cell phone bans by the beginning of the 2026-27 school year. These would need to be “bell-to-bell” bans, meaning that students would not be able to access their cell phones for the entire school day, including during recess and lunchtime. 

Senators spent hours speaking about the bill and advocating for its necessity. 

“This is not about demonizing technology. This is about creating boundaries that allow our students to learn, grow and connect in healthier ways,” said Lewis, who co-chairs the education committee. “It’s about giving our teachers their classrooms back. It’s about saying as a commonwealth, we value the mental health and attention of our young people enough to act.”

School cell phone bans are needed for a number of reasons: to improve academic performance and social skills, address the mental health crisis, make schools safer, and to improve job satisfaction for educators, Lewis said. 

Officials who back the legislation cite a raft of research that they say shows how cell phone bans can accomplish these goals. According to the Pew Research Center, about 72% of high school teachers say that cell phone distraction is a major problem in their classrooms. Researchers at Stony Brook University found that adolescents average one and a half hours of smartphone use during the school day. Multiple studies have found that student performance is improved by phone bans, with some caveats, according to Scientific American.    

“This bill is about taking control of our classrooms away from Silicon Valley and returning it to where it belongs, to our educators, to our teachers,” Sen. John Velis said. 

The new legislation carves out some exemptions. Students with disabilities and an individualized education plan that makes clear a cell phone is needed to manage their disability during the school day would be exempt. So too would students that have a documented medical reason for needing a cell phone or similar device. Finally, students that need to leave campus for other learning opportunities during the school day would be able to bring their phones with them. 

Schools would be required to include one or more methods for parents or guardians to be able to reach their student during the school day in their cell phone ban policies. The policies would also need to include a method for students to contact their families, if necessary. 

Across the country, at least 31 states and the District of Columbia require schools to ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones, according to Education Week. Concern about the effects cell phones have on students is widespread and growing. About 74% of American adults support banning middle and high school students from using cellphones during class, according to survey results released by Pew this summer. This figure is up from 68% last fall.  

Senate President Karen Spilka put her full weight behind the legislation. 

“Massachusetts has a proud history of supporting and uplifting K-12 public education for our residents, but a device small enough to fit in a pocket presents a profound challenge to ensuring student success,” she said in a statement after the vote. 

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, along with some of the state’s most notable elected officials, support a ban. This includes Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell. 

“We know that distraction-free learning is the best way to set our students up for success. Restricting cellphone use in our schools will support parents and teachers, protect the mental health of young people, and help our students learn and grow,” Healey said in a statement in July. “I hope the Legislature will send me a bill that implements a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones and similarly distracting devices at school.”

House Speaker Ron Mariano, a former teacher himself, has not taken a definitive stance on the matter. It is unclear if and when the House will take up the matter. 

The two votes against the bill in the Senate came from Sen. Kelly Dooner, who represents areas around Taunton, and Sen. Ryan Fattman, who represents Southbridge and nearby communities. 

“I voted no because decisions about personal electronic device use belong at the local level. This one-size-fits-all mandate overrides the discretion of school districts, which are best equipped to decide what works for their students without state-imposed penalties,” Dooner said in a statement to Boston.com. 

Fattman echoed Dooner’s concerns and raised others about safety and the need to teach young people how to use phones more productively in an academic setting. 

“Cellphones are instrumental in society and an outright cellphone ban in schools does not serve students well or appropriately teach students how and when to use phones maturely in an academic environment,” Fattman said in a statement. “This legislation also creates a blanket policy for all schools rather than allowing the school districts to create policies based on their own community’s needs. Finally, this legislation fails to consider all facets of cellphone use in schools such as families communicating during the school day especially during a public safety or family emergency.”