Texas schools must now enforce rules requiring students to lock away cellphones during school hours.
HOUSTON — Texas public school students will soon be required to keep their cellphones and other personal communication devices locked away during school hours under a new law signed today, marking a significant shift toward mandatory restrictions on student device use statewide.
House Bill 1481 requires all school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to adopt policies prohibiting students from using personal communication devices while on school property during the school day. Previously, such policies were optional for districts.
The law gives schools two options for compliance: completely ban devices from school property or require students to store their devices in a designated manner during school hours. Schools can confiscate devices and dispose of them after providing parents 90 days’ written notice.
Rep. Ellen Troxclair has argued that cellphone restrictions are necessary to address what she calls an addiction crisis among students.
“Limiting the addictive distraction of cell phones in classrooms is common sense! Our kids our suffering, both in their mental health & academic performance,” Troxclair said in a statement on social media earlier this year.
Troxclair cited troubling statistics about student device usage, claiming that suicide rates among teens have tripled since smartphones became widespread, that the average teen spends more than five hours daily on social media, and that students receive over 20 notifications per hour during school.
Many of Texas’s largest school districts already had strict cellphone policies in place before the statewide mandate. Houston ISD prohibits student cellphone use during the academic day, requiring devices to be left at home or in backpacks. Katy ISD implemented stricter rules for the 2024-2025 school year, requiring all devices to be turned off and put away during classes.
The law covers smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, radios, paging devices and other electronic communication devices, but excludes devices provided by schools to students.
One ongoing concern about cellphone restrictions involves emergency communication. During the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, where 19 students and two teachers were killed, children trapped inside used phones to call 911.
School districts have 90 days to adopt the required policies.