Sponsors (3)
Official title: To require the Director of the Department of Defense Education Activity to establish policy prohibiting the use of cellular phones and other distracting devices by students in DODEA schools, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 12, 2025 by Eugene Simon Vindman · Last progress June 12, 2025
The bill aims to improve classroom focus and gives DoDEA tools and funding to enforce device bans while preserving some accommodations, but it raises trade-offs around student access to devices, equity for vulnerable students, administrative costs, inconsistent application, and privacy risks.
Students (K-12) are likely to face fewer in-class distractions because personal devices can be banned during the school day, which should improve focus and learning conditions.
Students with documented medical needs, disabilities, or who require device support for language learning retain device access through IEP/504/ADA accommodations or healthcare certifications, preserving necessary supports.
DoDEA schools receive dedicated funding and equipment (e.g., lockboxes) and leadership flexibility to help implement device-storage policies, making practical compliance more feasible.
Parents and students may lose timely access to smartphones and devices during the school day (including while waiting for transport or during after-school activities), complicating childcare coordination and urgent communications.
The ban and its enforcement could disproportionately harm students with disabilities and English learners if accommodations under IDEA/504/ESEA are not clearly integrated in practice, reducing equitable access to supports.
Giving local administrators and the Director discretion to define or add covered device categories risks inconsistent or opaque rules across DoDEA schools, producing confusion and unequal treatment of students and families.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires DoDEA to ban student use of specified personal electronic devices during school hours, funds implementation support, and mandates reporting on outcomes.
Requires the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Director to adopt a policy banning students’ use of specified personal electronic devices during regular school hours in DoDEA-operated schools, with enumerated exceptions (emergencies, medical/IEP/504 accommodations, EL instruction, use outside school hours, and Director‑determined exceptions). The Director may provide implementation support (including purchasing lockboxes) and $1,207,500 is authorized for FY2026. The Director must report annually to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees for five years on implementation, costs, and effects on academic and mental health outcomes.