SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California and South Carolina could become the next states to limit cellphone use in schools, with state officials planning to consider the issue Tuesday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sending letters to school districts urging them to restrict students’ use of smartphones on campus. And the South Carolina State Board of Education is expected to approve guidelines Tuesday aimed at limiting students’ access to phones.
The efforts mark a broader push by officials in Utah, Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere to try to limit cellphone use in schools to reduce classroom distractions — and combat the mental health impacts of social media on children and teens.
But progress can be difficult. Cell phone bans are already in place in many schools, but they are not always enforced.
Districts should “act now” to help students focus in school by limiting smartphone use, Newsom said in the letter. He also cited risks to young people’s well-being, a topic that gained renewed attention in June after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms.
“Every classroom should be a place of focus, learning, and growth,” the Democrat said in his letter. “By working together, educators, administrators, and parents can create an environment where students are fully engaged in their education, free from the distractions of phones and the pressures of social media.”
Newsom said earlier this summer that he plans to address student smartphone use, and his letter indicates he is working with the state Legislature on it. Tuesday’s announcement is not a mandate but does prompt districts to take action.
In 2019, Newsom signed a law giving districts the power to regulate student access to smartphones during school hours.
The debate over banning cell phones in schools to improve academic outcomes is not new. But officials often resort to banning them as a solution rather than finding ways to integrate digital devices as learning tools, said Antero Garcia, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.
“What strikes me is the inability of society to move forward and find other kinds of solutions than to perpetually return to this conversation of, ‘Should we ban devices?’ as the primary solution to something that hasn’t worked,” Garcia said.
“It’s a great idea to propose limiting cellphone use in schools,” he added. “What that means for middle school teachers next week, when many schools return, will be quite different.”
Some California schools and school districts have already taken action. The Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Unified School Districts have banned cellphone use by students in recent years.
But some school board advocates say the state should not go further than that in banning cellphone use. That decision should be left to districts, said Troy Flint, a spokesman for the California School Boards Association.
“Cell phone and social media use on campus is certainly a serious issue that deserves serious consideration,” Flint said. “But these decisions are very specific to particular schools and communities, and they need to be made at the local level.”
There is no silver bullet to protect students from the risks posed by smartphones, but the state is “opening a discussion” about how districts could act, said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association.
“It makes sense that we as adults are looking out for students and trying to help them by providing safe spaces for them to learn,” he said. “How we do that is also very important: we need to make sure that students and teachers are involved in these conversations.”
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Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna
