By: Carter Smith
As cell phone use has increased among students, public school districts across the country have increased prohibitions against student cell phone use during school hours.[1] This movement toward banning student cellphone use in school reflects broad public concerns about the quality of student learning, as well as the prevalence of cyberbullying and sexual exploitation.[2] Teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with smartphones for their students’ attention, and parents are worrying about the emotional well-being of their children.[3] In response, state legislatures are rapidly passing laws to more effectively and uniformly ban the use of cell phones by students in public schools.[4]
National Context
In the summer of 2023, Florida became the first state to pass legislation banning student cell phone use during instructional hours.[5] Florida’s state ban required that, with a few exceptions, students could not use their phones during class instruction; however, it did not prevent individual school districts from taking harsher stances.[6] For example, Orange County, FL, the nation’s eighth largest public school district, implemented a stricter rule by banning student cell phone use for the entire school day.[7] This “bell-to-bell” ban prevented students from using their phones during lunch periods or in the hallway between classes.[8]
Over the past two years, thirty-three other states have followed suit and passed their own legislation prohibiting the use of cell phones by students to some extent.[9] Notably, this year, multiple states passed legislation implementing the “bell-to-bell” ban rather than the “instructional hours” ban.[10] Not only are states moving rapidly to pass legislation to ban student cell phone use, but they are also passing increasingly restrictive measures to do so.[11]
Still, as states raise the minimum standards that individual school districts must meet regarding student cell phone bans, local school districts retain significant discretion over how to implement and enforce their rules.[12] For example, even in a state where students are prohibited from using their cell phones from bell-to-bell, depending on the rules of their individual school district, they may be required to keep their phone powered off, stowed in their locker, or kept in “shoe-rack-like holders” in classrooms.[13] Despite variations in implementation and enforcement at the district level, recent state legislative action is bringing increased uniformity to school phone restrictions at both the state and national levels.[14]
Although the state bans are relatively new, early reports suggest that they have been effective in improving classroom management and student well-being.[15] In states that have adopted legislation banning the use of student cell phones in the classroom, teachers have reported an improvement in their students’ concentration on their lessons.[16]Some schools have found a decrease in cyberbullying and student fights following the implementation of cell phone bans.[17] Teachers in Orange County, FL, which issued a full bell-to-bell ban, found that students seemed more engaged, talkative, and collaborative both in the classroom and with one another.[18] Although the larger problem of technology posing a distraction in the classroom persists (for example, school-issued laptops allowing students to browse the internet during class), states that have implemented bans on the use of student cell phones in school have still found positive effects in the classroom.[19]
North Carolina HB 959
On July 1, 2025, the North Carolina Governor signed HB 959, which imposes statewide regulations on school cell phone use.[20] HB 959 requires, at a minimum, that all North Carolina school districts “prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time.”[21] It is not as strict as a “bell-to-bell” ban, and it includes exceptions for health reasons or teacher authorization; however, HB 959 still primarily serves to limit student cell phone use in school.[22]
As the law required compliance by September 1, 2025, public school districts across North Carolina developed and published updated rules regarding student cell phone use that aligned with the restrictions of HB 959 before the start of this school year.[23] Many districts simply clarified existing rules, ensuring that the language of their rules matched the language of HB 959.[24] Thus, practically speaking, the most significant impact of HB 959 appears to be the setting of a uniform minimum standard for the restrictions of student cell phone use across NC public school districts.[25]
Even so, North Carolina school districts are still free to elect stricter rules. For example, Nash County, NC, adopted the “bell-to-bell” rule stating that “[s]tudents may not use wireless communication devices during any part of the defined instructional day, including hallway transitions, lunch, assemblies, and field trips.”[26] Nash County Public Schools cited House Bill 959 and “the growing need for a focused, respectful, and safe learning environment” as the reasoning for the change.[27]
While North Carolina did not enact a law that fully limited the use of student cell phones, it did join a growing number of states seeking to curb the harmful effects of cell phones in public schools. Based on early reports of increased student wellbeing in states that have issued similar bans, it is likely that North Carolina schools will benefit from H.B. 959. Furthermore, considering the current trend of increasing restrictions on student cell phone use, it would not be surprising to see North Carolina amend this law to impose stricter rules on student phone use in the future.
[1] Percentage of public schools with various safety and security measures, National Center for Education Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23/tables/dt23_233.50.asp (last visited Sept. 20, 2025).
[2] Natasha Singer, Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones, N.Y. Times (Aug. 11, 2024), https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/11/technology/school-phone-bans-indiana-louisiana.html
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Natasha Singer, This Florida School District Banned Cellphones. Here’s What Happened, N.Y. Times (Nov. 6, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/technology/florida-school-cellphone-tiktok-ban.html
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] In 2025, Florida amended its legislation to implement a statewide “bell-to-bell” ban for elementary and middle schools. See H.B. 1105, 2025 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Fla. 2025) (“prohibiting students in specified grades from using wireless communications devices during the school day, rather than during instructional time”).
[9] State policies on cellphone use in K-12 public schools, Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/State_policies_on_cellphone_use_in_K-12_public_schools (last visited Sept. 20, 2025).
[10] See, e.g., H.B. 1105, supra, note 8; N.Y. Education Law § 2803 (McKinney 2025).
[11] Id.
[12] Singer, supra note 2.
[13] Id.
[14] State policies on cellphone use in K-12 public schools, supra note 9.
[15] Singer, supra note 2.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Singer, supra note 5.
[19] Singer, supra note 2.
[20] H.B. 959, 2025 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2025).
[21] Id.
[22] Id.
[23] See, e.g., New cellphone use policy approved by Board of Education, Wake County Public School System, https://www.wcpss.net/cellphones (last visited Sept. 20, 2025); Student Cell Phone and Personal Communication Device Policy Update for 2025-26, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (last updated Aug. 15, 2025), https://www.chccs.org/students/middle-and-high-school-cell-phone-rules.
[24] Id.
[25] Id.
[26] Cell Phone Policy Update, Nash County Public Schools, https://www.ncpschools.net/parents-community/cell-phone-policy-update-2025-2026 (last visited Sept. 20, 2025).
[27] Id.
