At the start of the year, a proposal to ban cell phones in K-12 Kansas schools seemed to enjoy the same kind of bipartisan support as legislation that brought the Kansas City Chiefs to Kansas and nixed the state sales tax on food.
Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly put their full support behind a ban. Lawmakers filed bills in the state House and Senate before the session began.
“Smartphones and social media have exposed our children to a world they are not ready for and to social pressures they don’t need or deserve,” Kelly said in her annual address to lawmakers in January. “Get that bill to my desk and I will sign it into law.”
But it looks increasingly unlikely that the bill will make it to Kelly’s desk in any recognizable form. A House committee has voted to change the bill from a requirement to a recommendation — taking the teeth out of the statewide mandate that supporters had demanded.
“It’s a return of local control, which has been the number one concern of people I’ve heard from,” Democratic Rep. Linda Featherston said before supporting the amendment.
The original proposed ban would have held school districts responsible for keeping students’ phones in an “inaccessible location,” like in lockable fabric pouches, for the entire instructional day, with limited exceptions for students with specific medical or learning needs.
Public and accredited private schools would need to start enforcing the ban this fall, at the start of the 2026-27 school year.
The bill would also bar teachers from using social media platforms to interact with students one-on-one, and require school districts to report data on how much screen time students are getting in grades one through four.
Some local school boards have pushed back against the proposed phone ban — as have students and some advocates for private schools, who would also be required to follow the policy under the initial proposal.
Despite widespread agreement in Topeka that students are better off without phones in class, debates over this year’s suggested ban have forced policymakers to consider how much the state should shape the role of technology in young people’s lives.
The case for “bell-to-bell”
A majority of kids aged 12 and under have access to a smart phone — as do 95% of teens aged 13 to 17, according to Pew research.
In 2024, the Kansas State Board of Education convened a task force to study the effects of screen time on students and issue policy recommendations.
In its report, the group cited research linking phone use to addiction, negative social comparison and diminished academic performance. Members issued a list of recommendations including a “bell-to-bell” ban, which involves storing phones away for the entire school day, including passing periods and lunch.
Ava Gustin, a Kansas State University student who co-chaired the screen time task force, told lawmakers recently that she developed an eating disorder in high school — partly because the constant presence of cell phones fueled self-comparison.
“That’s something that nobody should ever have to face,” she said.
