BY: ANNELISE HANSHAW
Missouri Independent
A bill passed by the state legislature Tuesday and on its way to the governor will require school districts to create a policy banning cell phone usage throughout the school day, including during breaks between classes and at lunch.
A majority of U.S. adults support cell phone bans during class time, or 68% as recorded in a Pew Research Center poll. But restricting mobile phone use for the entire school day is less popular, with 36% in support.
State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Democrat from Columbia, filed the cell-phone-ban legislation with restrictions only during instructional time. She wanted to give school boards and charter schools the ability to decide whether or not to place further limitations on cell phones, she told The Independent.
Lawmakers decided to pursue the more restrictive policy, and Steinhoff believes students will see benefits academically and socially.
“The statistics really do hold that if we do the (full day), bell to bell, that’s going to have the biggest turnaround,” she said.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 53% of school leaders believe that cell-phone usage has hurt students’ learning abilities. And 72% say it has negatively impacted mental health.
Many school districts have chosen to enact bans, and states around the country have been increasingly writing bans into law with restrictions passed in at least nine states and 10 states testing the policy in a pilot program since 2023.
Missouri’s full-day ban would be one of the more restrictive laws, but there are exceptions.
Students who need a mobile device to accommodate a disability are exempted, and cell phones would be allowed if there is a safety emergency at school.
The legislation also gives school districts and charter schools the ability to decide if teachers may allow students to use cell phones during class.
The bill does not require phones to be locked up. School boards will have to decide whether devices will be stowed in designated areas or allowed in students’ backpacks.
Districts will have to enact a policy during the 2025-2026 school year.
The legislation is part of a sweeping education package negotiated in the final weeks of the legislative session.
It began as a three-page bill prescribing reporting requirements for school safety incidents. Now, at 138 pages, it contains bipartisan legislation, with multiple provisions aimed at school safety.