Lawmakers Seek to Restrict Cellphones in Tennessee and Georgia Schools
By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Tennessee’s Senate and Georgia’s House of Representatives independent of each other have moved school cellphone legislation forward.
The Tennessee Senate approved a measure 30-0 Thursday morning that requires local school boards to adopt a policy regarding cellphones in schools.
The bill would require policies that ban the use of cellphones or other wireless devices during instruction times. Exceptions are included that allow teachers to use wireless devices for education purposes and for students who use them for health reasons.
The bill raised some concerns about the use during emergencies, such as school shootings.
“Research has shown, that in these situations, when everyone has phones, it messes up the entire safety plan,” said Senator Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City.
The House passed its version on Monday. The bill would take effect beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
Many Tennessee school systems already have policies regarding cellphones in place. Hamblen County Schools, which has about 10,000 students, bans them for the entire school day.
“Personal communication devices were undermining safety and negatively impacting the learning environment in Hamblen County Schools,” Superintendent Arnold Bunch told the House Education Committee last week. “We experienced drug deals that were orchestrated on phones, threats of mass violence, bullying, cheating, framing of other students, filming of and then sharing fights within our schools, sharing of inappropriate images of underage students and overall distractions in the classrooms.”
The Georgia House passed the “Distraction-Free Education Act” on Tuesday by a vote of 143-20.
House Bill 340 bans cellphones all day for students in grades K-8, except for students who need them for health purposes. The bill would go into effect in July 2026. Schools and school districts would determine how to discipline students who violate the ban.
The bill moves to the Georgia Senate for consideration.
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