By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-14 19:41:42 | Updated at 2026-08-14 21:40:26
2 hours ago
One of the strictest statewide bans on student personal electronic devices was just implemented in Kansas through HB 2299, and more states should follow suit.
Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed the bill into law in March, which went into effect for the first time in the 2026 school year. HB 2299 requires all Kansas public schools and accredited private schools to ban students from accessing cell phones, smartwatches, tablets, wireless earbuds, and any other electronic device from the first bell of the school day until dismissal. These devices must be powered off and stored in an inaccessible location.
This policy stands out because, barring some limited exceptions, students were sent back to the Stone Age. Kansas is admitting that, for students to learn well, it requires prioritizing blocking students’ access to electronics for the full day. This means there are no devices in classrooms, during lunch and recess, or in the halls.
Many other states have some level of an electronics ban in their schools, but most have stopped short of this standard.
The lack of courage to protect students and their ability to learn has documented costs. There is ample evidence of the harms that smartphones and social media cause for adolescents. There isn’t much an educator can do about a home environment that allows them unfettered access to technology. However, there is just as much research showing that devices in classroom settings enable constant distraction and lower learning. Teachers complain about having to spend instructional time addressing technology use, but all-out bans in their classrooms just aren’t happening at the local level. Statewide action is a no-brainer solution to fixing this problem, at least while students are in school. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
There’s also the cost of implementing HB 2299. Kansas didn’t fund the new initiative, and it’s not free for school districts to abide by the ban. It requires new security measures, such as dedicated locked cabinets or collection systems. Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools spent around $150,000 to install dedicated lockers for middle and high school students. It cost school districts statewide an estimated $13.4 million to follow the new law. There is no state appropriation to offset the costs; districts must absorb expenses for storage solutions and staff time.
The benefit far outweighs the added cost, even if it would have made more sense for a statewide ban to be funded by the state government.
While most states have some form of restriction, many remain limited to instructional time or rely on local or district discretion to implement the rule.
Florida became the first state to ban devices statewide through HB 379 in 2023. However, the law prohibited devices only during instructional time and included an exemption allowing teachers to give students access to them in the classroom. The state did pass another restriction on devices in 2025, including a full-day ban. Still, this new law only applied to elementary and middle schools. High school students are still allowed to use their devices during school hours while outside the classroom.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3216 into law in 2024, requiring school districts to implement a policy limiting device use at school. The policy is left up to local school districts to determine how to enact, and each locality is allowed to set its own rules.
New York and Texas have bell-to-bell requirements for students that ban device access during the full school day, similar to Kansas’s. However, the difference between Kansas and New York and Texas is that Kansas applies to both public school districts and accredited private schools, whereas New York and Texas only ban device use for their public and charter schools. Kansas’s across-the-board approach fills the gap and leaves no confusion for students and their families.
Our bell-to-bell smartphone ban in schools went into effect on September 4. And we’re already hearing positive results from students and teachers.
Kids are paying more attention in class, participating, and learning. This is part of how New York will continue to lead in… pic.twitter.com/d5k7bDQT8T
Banning devices only works if measurable student outcomes prove that all the work and logistics that went into implementing the policy bore fruit. Considering the research conducted on the issue over time, states will likely see improvements in learning, showing that the ban was effective.
Constant device access has been shown to fragment attention spans because it substitutes a screen for face-to-face interaction, which is imperative not just for educational purposes but also for social development. Schools exist to educate students and foster environments where students can focus. Having a partial ban in which devices are taken away only during classroom time but returned for significant portions of the day completely negates the purpose. (ROOKE: Inside Classroom Battle That Will Decide If Freedom Survives Next Generation)
Kansas has established a concrete example of what a comprehensive policy looks like in practice. The state has set a clear expectation that school time is for learning. It’s time for other states to address a problem recognized nationwide.
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