Sponsors (8)
The bill aims to reduce classroom distractions and produce federal evidence to guide device policies (benefiting student learning and school decision-making) but does so by restricting student access to personal phones and imposing privacy, administrative, financial, and equity challenges for families, schools, and districts.
Students in covered schools will face fewer in-class distractions because personal mobile devices are restricted during instructional periods, which can improve attention and learning outcomes.
Students, parents, teachers, and districts will get nationally aggregated evidence (via a mandated study and public report) and a federal testing grant program to inform better classroom and schoolwide device policies within a few years.
Students who require medical devices or monitoring can continue to use exempted devices, protecting health and accommodations for disabled students.
Students and parents will lose immediate access to personal devices during lunch, passing time, and other non-instructional periods, reducing convenient communication and raising safety/convenience concerns.
Schools and local districts must secure, store, and manage students' personal devices (including installing lockers or other safeguards), creating ongoing administrative work, liability exposure, and costs—burdens that may exceed available grant funding, especially for small or rural districts.
The required study and data collection create privacy risks if student information is not tightly controlled, potentially exposing sensitive data about minors.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a pilot grant program for schools to install secure mobile-device storage and requires a Surgeon General study on device impacts; authorizes $5M for FY2025–FY2029.
Introduced February 12, 2025 by Bruce Westerman · Last progress February 12, 2025
Creates a federal pilot grant program to help schools install secure lockers/containers that keep students' personal mobile phones and similar devices out of use during the school day, and requires a nationwide study by the Surgeon General on how mobile-device use in K–12 schools affects learning, behavior, and mental health. Authorizes $5 million for FY2025–FY2029 and allows ED and HHS to use up to 2% of funds for administration and data collection; the study must be completed within two years of enactment.