Kansas Joins Growing Number of States Restricting Cell Phone Use in Schools

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Kansas Joins Growing Number of States Restricting Cell Phone Use in Schools

A Kansas Twist  provides national news relevant to Kansas. Sign up here to receive these summaries and more, and also follow KHI on  Facebook,  X,  LinkedIn and Instagram. Previous editions of A Kansas Twist can be found on our ARCHIVE PAGE.

On March 19, 2026, Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law Senate Substitute for Substitute for House Bill 2299, which prohibits Kansas students from using "personal electronic communication devices" (mobile or cellular phones, tablets, computers, watches, wireless headphones or earbuds, text messaging devices or personal digital assistants) during the school day.

Under the new law each "board of education of a school district" and "governing authority of an accredited nonpublic elementary or secondary school" is required to adopt policies and procedures to manage the use of these devices in their schools and certify to the Kansas State Board of Education (KSBE) on or before Sept. 1, 2026, that their policies and procedures have been adopted.

The law also prohibits school employees from communicating with students through social media platforms for school-related activities. An exception in the law allows school districts and accredited nonpublic schools to approve social media platforms for official school purposes.

This edition of A Kansas Twist examines the research that is motivating individual school districts and states to implement school cell phone restrictions, how Kansas officials began to address this issue beginning in 2024, and how the state's approach compares to other states and nations.

Cell Phone Use, Student Mental Health and Academic Performance

Cell phone use is common among school-aged children, and some parents, educators and health professionals have raised concerns about its potential effects on learning and mental health. The policy discussion surrounding cell phones in schools is informed by a growing body of research examining associations between youth device use and anxiety, depression, sleep disruption and declines in academic performance.

A landmark 2018 study involving 118 upper-level college studentswas one of the first to establish a causal relationship between electronic device use during class and exam performance, finding that even students who did not use devices themselves performed worse when attending class where use was permitted. A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that teachers consistently cite cell phone distraction as a top classroom challenge, and most believe cell phone policy should not be left to individual teachers to manage. Where bell-to-bell bans - which prohibit the use of devices from the first "bell" of the school day to the last, including lunch periods and class transitions - have been implemented, early survey data from educators have been cautiously positive, with teachers in several states reporting improvements in student engagement and classroom behavior.

Public opinion has moved in a similar direction as reported in a 2025 Pew Research Center survey that found that 74 percent of adults support banning cell phone use during class, while 44 percent support a full-day ban, with parents citing emergencies and after-school logistics as the primary reasons for wanting children to retain access. The new Kansas law prohibits students from using personal electronic communication devices during the "school day," which is defined as the "start of school until dismissal at the end of the day on the school premises," including time in any classroom, recess, lunch or passing period.

While support for cell phone bans has grown, the evidence on outcomes is still being explored. An April 2026 National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper analyzed data from thousands of public middle and high schools nationwide, which had adopted the use of lockable phone pouches between 2023 and 2025 to restrict student cell phone use, one of the more stringent methods used by nearly 5,000 schools to limit cell phone access. The researchers found that while lockable phone pouches substantially reduced phone use, they produced mixed results on student outcomes, including:

• Short-run disruption to the school environment, in the form of an increase in disciplinary incidents and student-reported declines in subjective well-being, which fades over time as students adjust to the new phone restrictions.
• Near-zero average change in standardized test scores, with modest positive effects in high school math and small negative effects in middle schools.
• Improvements in student-reported well-being after the first year, and little evidence of effect on attendance, classroom attention or online bullying.

An earlier NBER working paper from October 2025 examined the effects of cell phone restrictions on test scores, disciplinary incidents and other student behaviors in a large urban school district in Florida, the first state to enact a student cell phone ban. Using data for the 2022-23 school year - the year prior to the implementation of the ban in September 2023 - and the following two school years, the researchers reported:

• A temporary rise in the rate of disciplinary incidents and student suspensions during the first month of the ban, suggesting a period of adjustment to the new policy and enforcement actions, which returned to near pre-ban levels by the start of the second year.
• No significant changes in standardized student test scores during the first year of the ban, but a significant increase in test scores in the spring semester of the second year, especially among male students and middle and high school students.
• Significant reductions in unexcused absences during the two years following the imposition of the ban.

The researchers in both studies concluded that banning cell phones in schools could be beneficial for student outcomes, but it will be important to study the longer-run effects of the bans, and specific types of bans, to determine whether these policies have a measurable impact on outcomes such as high school graduation and college attendance.

National and International Legislative or Administrative Action

Starting in 2023, states across the country have moved with speed and bipartisan agreement to restrict cell phone use. As of June 9, 2026, a total of 44 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws or adopted policies governing student cell phone use in K-12 schools through a range of approaches (Figure 1).

Figure 1. State-Level School Cell Phone Policies, as of June 9, 2026

Source: Statewide policies on cell phone usage in K-12 public school classrooms, Ballotpedia. Accessed on May 15, 2026, updated June 9, 2026.

Florida, the first state to enact a student cell phone ban, implemented its policy in July 2023. State lawmakers cited concerns about mental health issues and cyberbullying among children and adolescents, along with research documenting the association between these outcomes and smart phone and social media use, to impose a ban that prohibits students from using wireless communications devices at school during instruction time unless expressly directed by a teacher solely for educational purposes. Although the Florida law refers to "instructional time," the school district that was the subject of the October 2025 study noted above requires student devices to be stowed away during the entire school day while on campus, including lunch time and transitioning between classes.

Louisiana bans student possession of devices on their person for the entire instructional day. California, New York and Texas have bell-to-bell bans that cover non-instructional time as well as class periods. Several states, including Colorado and Minnesota, require districts to develop their own policies without specifying content. A handful of states, such as Arkansas and Delaware, paired restrictions with implementation support by funding lockable pouch programs to assist schools. Several of Kansas' neighboring states acted in 2025, including Missouri, which required all districts to adopt cell phones policies before the 2025-26 school year, and Nebraska, which enacted one of the stricter bell-to-bell bans for the 2025-26 school year which prohibits students' use of cell phones while on school property or attending school instructional events.

One of the key differences among state laws has been how states are funding the implementation of their student cell phone ban policies. In its fiscal year 2026 budget, New York allocated $13.5 million to support schools in purchasing device storage solutions. In December 2025, New Jersey launched a $3 million Phone-Free Schools Grant Program, to support 86 school districts in implementing their bell-to-bell policies. Arkansas and Delaware funded the purchase of lockable pouches to help districts comply.

The push to limit student cell phone access began even earlier outside of the U.S. France restricted the use of "cell phones and other electronic communication devices" in schools in 2018 and has continued to expand those restrictions. Beyond school-specific policies, some countries have taken broader approaches, including the regulation of social media access for minors. Australia became the first country to implement a social media ban for children younger than 16, with a law requiring major platforms to block minors taking effect in December 2025. France, Denmark and Spain have each proposed or enacted legislation restricting social media access for children younger than 15 or 16, citing concerns about online bullying and mental health.

Kansas Legislative Action

In Kansas, a significant number of school districts had already adopted their own bell-to-bell policies before the issue moved to the state level in August 2024 when the Kansas State Board of Education (KSBE) formed the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Student Screen Time. KSBE approved the task force recommendations in December 2024, calling on districts to implement bell-to-bell policies, though implementation was left to individual districts. A survey of 256 of Kansas' 286 superintendents found that 53 percent of districts had already implemented policies before the recommendations were issued, 15 percent used the framework to develop one, 5.6 percent implemented one or more specific recommendations and 22 percent reviewed the recommendations but did not act on them.

The issue then moved to the Legislature in 2025 with the introduction of three bills that would have required school districts to adopt policies and procedures for students' use of privately owned electronic communication devices during school hours or prohibited students from using privately owned electronic communication devices during school hours, but none of the bills progressed beyond their introduction. At the start of the 2026 session, Senate Bill 302 was introduced on Jan. 12 and amended provisions of that bill were ultimately incorporated into Senate Substitute for Substitute for House Bill 2299. The bill, which was passed by the House on a vote of 84-39 and the Senate on a vote of 32-4 and was signed by Gov. Kelly on March 19, did not provide state funding to offset estimated implementation costs, which could run as high as $13.4 million.

Looking Ahead

Now that Kansas has enacted its official version of a student cell phone ban, all the state's school districts must move quickly to develop or modify their existing policies and procedures to govern student use of personal electronic communication devices by the Sept. 1, 2026, deadline stated in the law. As they finalize their plans, the experiences of other states offer context for implementation, including questions of enforcement, equity of access and financial sustainability. KHI will continue to monitor cell phone policy developments as they are implemented across the state as well as the developing national research on the impact of these policies on student performance and mental health.