Alabama Moves Closer To Statewide Student Cell Phone Ban In Schools

Alabama is getting closer to passing a statewide ban on student cell phone use in public schools.

The legislation, called the FOCUS Act, would prohibit students from using a “wireless communication device” during the instructional day. It also would require schools to adopt an internet safety policy and educate students on safe social media use.

Two complementary bills, SB92 and HB166, were approved in committee meetings on Feb. 26 and will head to their respective chambers.

“What we’re trying to do here is to give an opportunity to children to go bell to bell without any devices in front of them, and allow the teachers to teach, to instruct, and not having to be policing the classroom to find out who’s on a cell phone,” said Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Rep. Leigh Hulsey, R-Helena.

The bills would ban students from using cell phones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices or any other portable communication device on campus during the school day. Starting in the 2026-27 school year, devices must be turned off and stored in a locker, backpack, car or similar storage location.

Exceptions may be given to students with disabilities or certain health needs if permitted by an individualized education plan, health plan or 504 plan. Students may also use their devices for educational purposes, if given permission, or in the case of a life-threatening emergency.

Local school boards must adopt a policy and decide potential disciplinary actions by July 2026. Lawmakers also approved a substitute to the bill, which states that if a district does not comply by the following school year, they could lose up to 30% of “common purchase” funding devoted to classroom spending.

Schools around the state and country have considered cell phone bans following recent federal advisories on student mental health and social media use. In February, the Alabama state school board adopted a resolution to “strongly encourage” local school districts to have a policy that would limit cell phone use on school grounds, citing their negative effects on learning and retention. Gov. Kay Ivey recently voiced her support of the legislation in her State of the State address, stating phone-free schools would help improve instruction and student mental health.

About 20 Alabama school districts have already banned cell phones in classrooms, according to State Superintendent Eric Mackey. Some schools require students to turn their phones on “airplane mode” during class. Others use boxes or locked bags to keep phones inaccessible.

“If we were only talking truly about students having a phone in the classroom, that would be a problem, but it’s an addressable problem,” Mackey told lawmakers earlier this month. “The problem is that they’re not phones; they’re supercomputers.”

“For those who are my age and older, if we were to go back to school and they said, ‘Bring your phone, bring a TV, bring an Atari, and we’re going to do class with all of that stuff sitting on your desk,’ we would think that was ridiculous. But that’s essentially what our students have.”

Christy Wright, principal at Pike Road Junior High, told lawmakers Wednesday that her school saw big improvements in student discipline and attentiveness after physically locking up cell phones this year.

Pike Road uses Yondr pouches, which require a special magnet to lock and unlock their contents, to stow away student cell phones during the school day. The school had cell phone restrictions in place before the pouches, but still saw hundreds of violations, she said.

“Even though we had those incidents still, our teachers noted a great difference in our learning environments without cell phones being there,” she said. “It was clear that there was much more peer interaction happening, deeper discussions, even just in the hallways the interactions between our students changed our culture.”

Phone-free schools were among several recent recommendations by a state commission on school safety, which found that excessive social media and cell phone use increased the risk of anxiety and depression, attention issues, sleep deprivation and addiction. Lawmakers are currently considering another set of bills that would limit social media use for children under 16.

“Rarely do I stand in front of you and say there’s something we can do with the stroke of the pen to improve the mental health of our youth,” Alabama Department of Human Resources Commissioner Nancy Boswell told lawmakers Wednesday. “What we want to get back to is connection and community and helping our kids be as mentally healthy as they can be.”

Alabama is among at least 20 states that have adopted or are pursuing a statewide ban on student cell phone use, according to reporting from States Newsroom. But school security experts say the bans may be hard to implement on the school level.

“The genie is out of the bottle, and squeezing it back in is going to be nearly impossible,” Ken Trump, a longtime school safety expert and president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm, told the news outlet. He noted that students are good at finding ways to circumvent the rules or find workarounds. “Phones and social media have fundamentally changed society, and by extension, schooling. Outright bans may be unrealistic or difficult to enforce effectively.”

In committee meetings, lawmakers proposed some tweaks to the bills that would address the cost of any necessary supplies, like pouches or lockers, and would require schools to track how phone restrictions impacted student outcomes.

Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said while he supports the effort, he believes it’s important for schools to help students use and embrace technology as a “teaching tool.”

“It’s important that this is not the boogeyman,” he said. “Part of this is to help them understand the appropriate use.”

If passed, local boards must also come up with an internet safety policy by July 1, 2026. The policy would have to ensure students are only able to access age-appropriate materials, are protected from hacking and unlawful online activity, and are prohibited from accessing social media on school-issued devices.

The state board of education will also be required to create a course on social media safety within that time frame. The course must cover how to appropriately use social media for career and academic opportunities, how to identify cyberbullying and predatory behavior, and its effects on mental health.

Mackey told reporters that the state department intends to come up with a “mini course” for middle schoolers no matter the outcome of the legislation.

“We can’t lose sight that the issue is not the device, the issue is social media,” he said.