Long story short
House Bill 1481 requires students to keep their phones in a backpack during the school day, according to its text. It provides exceptions for students with certain needs related to health or safety.
Rep. Jeff Barry, R-Pearland, who supported the bill, said he felt it struck a good middle ground for setting a baseline requirement but also leaving room for districts to adopt their own standards.
“The key to this law is to make sure we’re consistent in the enforcement mechanisms for this,” he said. “And making sure that schools and teachers are serious.”
To that end, Alvin ISD has had a policy related to cellphones in place for three years now, district officials said. Friendswood ISD’s policy, passed earlier this year, will require students to put their phones away in pouches throughout the school day.
The flurry of policies stems from a rise in phone usage, particularly among teens, which officials say brings distractions into the classroom and harms the mental
well-being of students.
While local officials, teachers and the Association of Texas Professional Educators, or ATPE, all support policies to restrict cellphones, some groups—namely parents—are voicing concerns about safety and a loss of communication with their students.
Diving in deeper
Among local districts, PISD was the latest to approve its cellphone policy, doing so at a July 28 meeting—roughly a month after the new state policy was passed.
The policy, which adjusts the student code of conduct, will require students to put away such devices during the day. It leaves implementation of the policy up to the superintendent, who must report annually to the board.
AISD’s policy as of press time Aug. 5 allows students to have cellphones but requires that they be turned off during the instructional day, district documents show. Officials at an Aug. 6 meeting considered a stricter policy, but the outcome of the vote was not available as of press time.
FISD’s newest policy, which was approved in a split 5-2 vote in May, will require students to store such devices in a Yondr pouch throughout the day. Board members Beau Egert and Niki Rhodes voted against the policy.
The policies are as follows:
- HB 1481: Students must keep devices away and in a backpack during the school day. Exceptions are made for medical and safety reasons.
- Alvin ISD: Students are prohibited from accessing their personal cellphones during the entire school day while on school property. Exceptions are included.
- Friendswood ISD: Students in grades 6 and up must lock phones in magnetic pouches throughout the school day.
- Pearland ISD: Students must keep devices put away during the school day. District employees will confiscate devices that violate policy. The superintendent will set future regulations.
Data from a variety of public and private sources reveal a growing challenge with devices in schools, as well as the negative effects officials say their high usage has on students.
When pitching the bill, Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo, and her staff cited numbers from a variety of sources, namely from The Anxious Generation, a website made in tandem with a book by psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
Research shows teenagers—and people in general—are seeing higher rates of depressive episodes, mental illness and anxiety, according to data from The Anxious Generation website. Data shows that girls ages 10-14 in the U.S. saw a 400% increase in emergency visits related to self-harm from 2002-2022. Boys saw a 200% increase, data shows.
While those who curated the study link those trends to a variety of issues, such as declines in sleep, exercise and time with friends, officials also note the rapid increase in cellphone and social media usage in that time. Some data illustrating this trend includes:
- 53% of school leaders feel students’ academic performance is being negatively impacted by cellphone usage.
- 72% of school leaders feel cellphones can have a negative impact on students’ mental health.
- 95% of teens report having access to a smartphone.
- 77% of public schools nationwide have a policy restricting cellphones.
- 38% of teens ages 13-17 say they spend too much time on their phones.
- 150% increase in anxiety prevalence for those ages 18-25 from 2008-2022
- 39% increase in social media use for eighth, 10th and 12th graders from 2008-2015
- 71.7% decrease in time spent with friends for those ages 15-24 from 2003-2020
Barry said HB 1481 was the state’s first step to address distractions and learning loss related to cellphones and other devices. He said he believes cellphones are not only hurting students’ learning but also their ability to communicate in person.
“You hear it time and time again—students on their phones,” Barry said. “You can’t learn to communicate ... in a text or tweet.”
Paulette Leal, a PISD parent and former substitute teacher, said she thinks restricting cellphone usage could lead to more behavioral issues, such as students talking and distracting others.
“If the phone is causing the student to not get the work done, then the problem is not the phone. It is with the discipline within that student," Leal said.
Tricia Cave, a public education advocate and lobbyist for ATPE, said the organization’s members are supportive but concerned as to how the policies will be enforced.
As a result, Cave said she and others with the organization are advising their members to be involved in the policies their respective districts are crafting at the local level.
“I think this policy is going to be great as long as districts are consistent with it and there’s long-term enforcement," Cave said.
While Cave said she understands the concerns parents have, she believes many of those concerns will be assuaged as policies go into effect.
What's next
Cave and Barry said, as it stands, there are no concrete plans for any other follow-up bills from the state to add onto HB 1481.
“I think we’ll take a couple of years and see what the impact of this bill is,” Cave said.
Cave and Barry said they believe the policy and others like it could work in the classroom as long as teachers are backed by their respective district administrations. Administrators taking those policies seriously and enforcing them are key, they said.
“We know and understand that for the success of a policy like this, it is a partnership,” said Kim Cole, executive director of secondary teaching and learning at FISD. “It’s a partnership between the district and the students and the parents.”
