Legislative bill: Kids, stash those cellphones during class time

SALT LAKE CITY — At first glance, the just-introduced bill that would prohibit Utah's K-12 students from calling or texting on their cellphones or smartwatches during class time might seem like Legislative heavy-handedness.

In fact, SB178's sponsor said it's just the opposite: It's motivated by handing the management of cellphones in classrooms back to the local schools and districts.

"My goal is to reset the default in the state," said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, on Tuesday.

"Right now, state policy on cell phones is silent — so that basically means that in schools, cellphones are allowed whenever and wherever they want, unless the districts say, 'No'.

"That was a mistake of a policy for 20 years. … But the goal with this bill is to just flip that dynamic," he said.

If Fillmore's bill is ratified, the state's default policy will prohibit the use of cellphones or smartwatches during classroom hours. "Or if they ever invent a smart pen, you won't be able to use that, either."

However, schools or districts will have the option to grant specific affirmative permission.

"This is how we want cellphones to be used in schools," said Fillmore. "I think framing it that way really puts schools and districts in a different position — where they're thinking, 'How can we use this technology to benefit the students in our school?' instead of, 'How can we restrict it so that we minimize the damage?'"

The damage caused by cellphones used at schools, added Fillmore, "has been vast."

Schools: Define your own policies

Fillmore said his bill is different from past legislative attempts to manage cellphone usage at schools because it does not obstruct local control.

"We're telling school districts: 'You adopt your policy. You work with your parents and your teachers. Figure out how this technology can be used effectively in your school to benefit kids, and adopt that policy.

"We're not going to stand in your way," Fillmore said.

But if local schools or districts choose not to articulate their own policy, he added, "Then the default is no cellphones during classroom hours."

The bill includes acceptable "carve-outs" for emergencies or other crisis situations. And students would still be allowed to use their devices during lunch period, recess, between class periods and during study halls — unless, again, local schools or districts decide otherwise.

When asked why lawmakers are stepping up to manage classroom cellphone usage instead of, say, leaving it up to individuals, Fillmore cited hindsight.

"If we had known 20 years ago what the results of having cellphones so ubiquitous in schools would be, we never would have allowed it," he said. "This isn't the state's role — but it is the state's role to define a default."

Fillmore hopes schools and districts will be proactive and "flip" their thinking. "Instead of (asking), 'How can we minimize the damage?' (ask) 'How can we use this technology to really benefit kids in our classrooms?'"

Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, spoke Tuesday in support of the cellphone/classroom prohibition: "In my own school district, I've got teachers, principals and my superintendent asking for the state to set that policy."

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said that social media and electronics are positives that sometimes requires guidance. Fillmore's bill allows for local schools and districts to exercise such direction.

"It gives the school districts total control of it, but it does set a different default," said Adams. "If the principal wants to, they can allow cellphones anywhere. They can ban them further. But at least it sets a marker — and allows the schools to be able to react to that marker."

Gov. Cox: No fan of cellphones in the classroom

Fillmore and his Senate colleagues are not the only ones speaking out against cellphones in classrooms.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has long expressed his wishes to limit public school students' cellphone use during class.

The governor has said there is "overwhelming evidence" of learning loss that coincides with widespread use of cellphones.

"We talked about learning loss during COVID-19, and it was severe. But if you go back and look at the data, learning loss in our country and all over the world started in about 2012, when these smartphones became ubiquitous," he said.

Meanwhile, the governor's 2026 fiscal year budget includes $139 million that would go toward student well-being efforts — including managing cellphones and other devices in school.

Cellphones can cause distractions in the classroom. "And it's been a priority of the governor that we address this as a state," Rich Nye, senior adviser to the governor, told the Legislature's Public Education Subcommittee last week.

Nye added that further cellphone management details are forthcoming but could include lockers in classrooms to store cellphones.

"This is a little fiscal effort to incentivize — allowing academics to be the priority during the school day. If we can remove those distractions that the cellphones have created, we would certainly explore all those options to do so," he said.

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