About 74% of Americans support banning cell phones in schools – a number that has increased since last year, according to a Pew Research Center report. This helps explain why since 2025, 26 states have issued bell to bell bans; while four more states have issued some type of restrictions on their use during the school day, as the Albert Shanker Institute points out.
Pennsylvania is now a step closer to joining that list.
A “bell to bell’ ban on cellphone use passed 46-1 out of the Pennsylvania state Senate yesterday. It requires school districts to create their own policies that adhere to a statewide standard. Now the legislation heads to the House for a vote.
“Supporting our kids means investing more dollars in our schools and also ensuring they have a healthy, productive learning environment,” Shapiro said during his budget address Tuesday. “One way to do that is to get the distraction of cellphones out of their classrooms.”
Sen. Dawn W. Keefer (District 31), which covers portions of Cumberland and York counties in south central Pennsylvania, cast the lone no vote. Three senate members are listed as not having voted, the Pennsylvania state Senate website noted.
Bucks County Republican Sens. Frank Farry (District 6) and Jarrett Coleman (District 16) joined Democrat and co-sponsor Sen. Steve Santarsiero (District 10) in voting for the legislation.
At a general assembly meeting inside the capitol in Harrisburg yesterday, Shapiro called on legislators to send a bill to his desk, after which he would sign it.
“Educators across the state have told us just how much mobile devices disrupt students from learning, facilitate cyber bullying and are a contributing factor to student mental health issues.” – Pennsylvania State Education Association’s Christopher Lilienthal
The proposed legislation has the support of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), which praised the move in a press release after the budget address.
“PSEA commends the state Senate for passing this bill establishing a consistent, statewide expectation that public schools must restrict possession and prohibit use of mobile devices for all students during the school day,” Jeff Ney, PSEA vice president said in a press release after the vote.
Ney urged legislators to allow individual school districts to set student rules regarding limiting possession of cellphones.
“Senate Bill 1014 does this. It calls for the entire school community, including students, parents, and educators, to come together and work collaboratively to transition to new restrictions,” Ney said.
SB 1014, which was introduced in October 2025, amends the Public School Code of 1949. It bans the use of “bell to bell” cell phones, creating a cellphone-free learning environment among public and parochial school students.
The bi-partisan legislation responds to alarming declines in youth mental health, academic achievement, and social engagement, Pennsylvania Senate Republicans posted on its website.
Bucks County Democrat Santarsiero is among the 21 legislators who have already signed onto the legislation, introduced by Republican prime sponsor Devlin Robinson (District 37).
Ney praised Pennsylvania’s bi-partisan effort to adopt a cellphone ban.
“We thank Sens. Robinson, Santarsiero, and Hughes for leading a bipartisan coalition to take this important step, which will support Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million public school students, their overall well-being, and their academic achievement,” said Ney.
The proposed legislation requires schools to impose “bell-to-bell, phone-free” policies for the 2026-27 school year. The legislation would generally apply to public and parochial schools and include homeroom, lunch and recess, the news outlet reported.
“Educators across the state have told us just how much mobile devices disrupt students from learning, facilitate cyber bullying and are a contributing factor to student mental health issues,” said Christopher Lilienthal, assistant director of communications for PSEA in an email.
Michael Petitti, director of communications and community engagement at Central Bucks School District in Doylestown, said the district’s current policies in elementary and middle school buildings includes a bell-to-bell no cellphone use policy.
“Currently it’s up to teachers, though many use a storage system prior to going into the classroom. For certain lessons teachers find uses for them [cellphones] like photography or art,” Petitti explained.
He said at Central Bucks West High School, some teachers worked together to pilot test cellphone free policies in their classrooms. Results of those pilot tests were not available.
“It wasn’t anything the district or principal directed, and they gathered and opted to try it as a group,” he said of the teachers’ initiative.
Central Bucks began a digital wellness committee last year and has held events for parents to help them learn best practices to vet their children’s screen time and set boundaries regarding screen and cellphone use, Petitti added.
“We’re trying to go beyond guidelines in school by educating parents. What we haven’t done as a district is to take an official stance … yet,” he added.
READ: US Department of Education Asks States, Schools to Set Policies on Cellphone Use
The legislation and many existing policies allow exceptions for cellphone use by students with valid medical monitoring conditions or for students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) which require devices to be included in their classroom learning. English as a Second Language (ESL) learners who rely on translation apps and teacher approved uses for classroom work could also be allowable exceptions.
Not everyone is in favor of a state-mandated ban on cellphone use in Pennsylvania’s schools.
“Banning cellphones ignores a core principle: effective behavior change comes from skill-building and guided practice – not simple prohibition,” said Laura Foster, of East Rockhill Township. Foster is a Pennridge School district parent. Efforts to reach Pennridge officials for comment were unsuccessful.
Foster said schools are ideal developmentally appropriate settings “to teach responsible technology use – attention management, boundaries and self-regulation – skills students will be expected to demonstrate in college, the workplace and adult life.”
“Since cellphones are embedded in most modern work environments, education should focus on how to use them appropriately and productively rather than pretending avoidance is a sustainable solution,” Foster said.
Education Week reported the iPhone, launched in 2007, has become a fixture in modern culture. Youngsters are living in a cellphone dominated “era” in which nearly every school aged child today has been a part.
Education Week’s January 8 report noted 33 states and the District of Columbia either restrict cellphone use during school time or ban them outright. The report said 23 states; including Pennsylvania’s neighbors New York and New Jersey, have “bell to bell” bans in place.
Pennsylvania is currently included among the 17 “policy not required” states regarding cellphone use in school settings.
SB 1014 co-sponsor Vincent Hughes (District 17) said in an email most teachers nationwide reported negative impacts of cellphone use on academic performance, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, “and they attributed phone usage to students’ declining mental health and attention spans.”
“It only takes a minute to start doom scrolling,” Hughes explained. “Next thing you know it’s an hour later or two hours later.”
If the bill passes in the House and is signed into law by Governor Shapiro, the earliest it could be expected to go into effect is sometime for the 2026-27 school year. It would amend the current 1949 Act 14, of which some provisions for classroom monitors are also set to expire June 30, 2026.
