(The Center Square) – Restrictions on K-12 students’ use of cellphones is in the Senate’s state budget proposal and in legislation originating in the state House of Representatives that has reached the Senate’s rules committee.
The outcome of negotiations for a budget between the Senate, House of Representatives and Gov. Josh Stein will determine what language, if any, comes forward and from where. The House has yet to release its two-year spending proposal.
And the cellphones in schools issue, if the House vote is an indicator, is agreed upon in General Assembly chambers holding significant Republican majorities.
The Center Square was unsuccessful getting response this week from House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick. Cell-Phone Free Education, known also as House Bill 87, passed the House 114-3 a day prior to going into the Senate Rules Committee.
The one-page House legislation says in part, “At the beginning of each school year, governing bodies of public school units shall notify parents of all students enrolled in the public school unit of the Cell Phone-Free Education Policy adopted under subsection (a) of this section.”
That subsection says, “Governing bodies of public school units shall adopt a cell phone-free education policy to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cell phones during instructional time.”
In the public instruction section of the Senate budget proposal, the language in part says governing bodies shall establish wireless communication policy, and sans exceptions, shall “prohibit students from using, displaying, or having a wireless communication device turned on during instructional time.”
Exceptions include teachers’ instructing use; as required by a student’s individualized education program; or to manage a student’s health care per documented medical conditions.
