Pa. House passes school cellphone ban

A similar bill already passed in the GOP-controlled state Senate with near-unanimous support in February.

• By Ian Karbal, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

This story was originally published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

The state House voted Monday to ban student cellphone use during the school day by the start of the 2027-2028 school year.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mandy Steele (D-Allegheny), applies to both public and private schools, and allows exceptions for students with individualized learning plans, medical needs, language barriers or family members with documented medical conditions. School principals would also be allowed to create exemptions for reasons not specifically addressed in the policy, including for instructional purposes.

A similar bill already passed in the GOP-controlled state Senate with near-unanimous support in February.

“We’ve got to get smartphones out of schools so the kids can learn, and play, and talk, and laugh, negotiate conflict, make eye contact, be curious, be kids again, free from the most addictive and harmful device that humanity has ever been subjected to,” Steele said on the floor Monday. “We must act in the face of a public health crisis of this magnitude.”

The 126-75 vote defied party lines, with Democrats and Republicans coming down on both sides of the issue.

Steele noted the bipartisan support in her remarks.

“In a time of great political polarization, there is an issue that spans the divide,” she said. “Democrat, Republican, Independent — anyone with eyes on kids — can see that something is very wrong.”

Several Republicans also spoke in support of the bill.

“Colleagues, ask me — ask yourself — does a cellphone in a kid’s hand serve the needs of the commonwealth when they’re in school? No it does not,” said Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon).

But members of both parties also spoke in opposition. Primarily, concerns centered on whether lawmakers in Harrisburg should be banning cellphones in all of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts, instead of allowing individual school boards to create their own bespoke policies.

“Who knows their individual school districts the best,” said Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware). “Is it the governor sitting in his office in the Capitol or is it elected school board members who live in the community and interact with these students?”

Gov. Josh Shapiro called on lawmakers to pass a school cellphone ban during his budget address in February.

Vitali said roughly 420 of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts have already adopted some form of cellphone policy. Some of those include bans during instruction time instead of throughout the entire school day.

Rep. Nikki Rivera (D-Lancaster), a high school Spanish teacher for 30 years, said she shared concerns about taking control from individual school boards, but after amendments were made to the bill she’d come around to supporting it.

“I have been watching this bill evolve, and as much as I think it shouldn’t be legislation and that it should be in school policy, here it is before us,” Rivera said. “Given the evolution of this bill, I think I will be a yes vote on this.”

When the measure came before the House Education Committee in April, members raised concerns about exceptions to the ban.

Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) then opposed it l, saying that allowing those with learning plans to use cellphones could end up disclosing students’ disabilities and create a two-tier enforcement system.

He also raised concerns about the proposal applying to both public and private schools.

That panel ultimately agreed to expand the ban’s exceptions to include students with family members suffering from documented medical exceptions. The Senate will need to agree to the amended House version before the bill can go to Shapiro’s desk for his signature.