A new bipartisan bill would create an incentive for states to restrict student cellphone use during the school day, the latest attempt by federal lawmakers to address growing screen-time concerns.
The bill—titled “UNPLUGGED Schools Grant Act” and sponsored by U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.—would establish a federal grant program for states that adopt policies prohibiting students from possessing and using their personal electronic devices during the school day.
If the bill succeeds, states would be able to use the money to implement cellphone restrictions, including paying for secure storage options.
“Getting phones out of classrooms will mean fewer distractions and more time for kids to focus on their teachers and lessons,” Kelly said in the press release about the bill. “We’re giving schools the tools to make that happen.”
“This bill would support Arkansas public schools that choose to tailor their classroom cellphone guidance to ensure students have the most productive school days possible,” Cotton said in the press release.
A majority of states have turned to cellphone restrictions to reduce distractions during the school day. At least 39 states and the District of Columbia require schools to restrict student cellphone use, with 29 states (including Arizona and Arkansas) and the nation’s capital requiring bell-to-bell bans, according to an Education Week analysis.
Cellphone regulations at the national level are also being put in place in other countries. In 2023, less than 25% of countries in the world had such bans, as reported in a UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report. But momentum has shifted. A follow-up report published in March 2026 found that 58% of countries now have national restrictions on student use of mobile phones in schools.
Research on cellphone bans is emerging
Research on the effectiveness of cellphone bans in the United States is still emerging and showing mixed results.
One study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that restricting student cellphone use during school hours doesn’t appear to lift academic achievement, improve student attention, or boost attendance, at least in the short term.
In a different study, researchers from the University of Southern California examined teens’ perspectives on cellphone restrictions and found that bell-to-bell cellphone bans are more effective than less strict policies, with fewer teens reporting using cellphones in core classes at the beginning of the year and fewer slipping into the habit by the end of the year. They also found that enforcement of school cellphone restrictions weakened over the first year of their implementation while student attitudes toward the policy tended to move from negative to neutral, according to the students’ perspectives.
Other federal lawmakers have floated the possibility of a national school cellphone ban.
Last year, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers introduced the Focus on Learning Act, which would require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study and report on the use of mobile devices in K-12 schools. It would also require the Education Department to create a pilot program to award grants to help schools purchase storage for students’ cellphones. So far, the bill has not moved out of committee.
The UNPLUGGED Schools Grant Act is “a step in the right direction to empower states to establish policies and practices that meet local needs,” said Weadé James, the senior director of K-12 education policy for the Center for American Progress, a left-learning think tank. “Most importantly, it provides necessary financial resources for designing and implementing phone-free school policies.”
It’s unclear how far along the UNPLUGGED Schools Grant Act will move through Congress.
While the United States’ decentralized education system creates impediments to nationwide education policies, this bill might have a better chance at passing because it “requires much less compliance in the traditional sense,” said Kenneth Wong, a professor emeritus of education policy at Brown University and the Kerry Group professor in public policy at the University of Hong Kong.
“It’s not a top-down bill,” Wong said. “It’s creating some financial incentives for states to come up with their own approach to deal with this problem.”
Not all school leaders are on board
The bill has garnered mixed reactions from school leaders.
Some are eager for the potential of new money to implement cellphone ban policies. The UNPLUGGED Schools Grant Act “would help pay for the hardware that makes the policy enforceable, including lockers, lock boxes, and phone pouches,” said Amber Tos, the assistant principal for P.S. duPont Middle School in Wilmington, Del. (Delaware requires schools to adopt policies that restrict student cellphone use during instructional time.)
At P.S. duPont Middle School, students get a Yondr pouch at the school entrance to lock their phones in at the beginning of the school day, Tos said. First-period teachers check that every phone is in a pouch. The pouches stay locked until dismissal, when students then unlock them at one of six stations by the school exits and drop their pouch in a bin on the way out of the school building, she said.
The implementation “is going very well,” Tos said. “Students are more engaged in class, and far fewer social media issues come up during the school day. Our discipline numbers have dropped sharply.”
All of the pouches and the magnets that unlock them have to be maintained and replaced over time, and federal funding would make implementation more sustainable, she said.
“I would want the grant to cover ongoing costs and staffing support, not just the first purchase,” Tos said.
Nick McGurk, the assistant principal for Streator Township High School in Streator, Ill., however, doesn’t see a grant program for student cellphone bans being effective.
“This is a policy and leadership issue, not necessarily something you can throw material toward,” McGurk said.
At Streator Township High School, students are only allowed to use their personal devices at lunch time. It’s the second year of that policy, and there has been “overwhelming” support from parents and staff, which has made it easier to implement, McGurk said.
In the first month of the policy, there were a few violations, but since then, most students have been in compliance, he said.
“We have thrown literally zero dollars at this, and we are a poor, rural, Rust Belt high school, and it’s effective here,” McGurk said.
Grant money should instead go toward other priorities, such as maintaining the national school lunch program and funding Title I programs and reading interventions, he said.
