Last spring, Governor DeWine used his state of the state address to call on school leaders to prohibit cellphone use in the classroom. A few weeks later, lawmakers unanimously passed House Bill 250, which requires districts to adopt a policy governing the use of cellphones during school hours. DeWine signed the bill into law in May, and the Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) released a model policy a short time later. Although this model forbade student use of cellphones at all times, the law provided districts with the freedom to decide their own policies. In other words, while total bans were the state’s preferred model, they were not required.
As part of the law, districts and schools were required to have cellphone policies in place by July 1, 2025. In the waning days of 2024, DEW released the results of a survey showing that most schools had already complied. But now, thanks to DeWine’s recently released budget proposal, some schools may have to go back to the drawing board. Tucked in among a plethora of headline-grabbing changes for school choice, literacy and numeracy, and career pathways is a revision to current law that would require districts and schools to adopt a policy prohibiting all cellphone use by students during the instructional day. Should it become law, total bans would be the name of the game.
It’s important to note that the budget includes a few exceptions. First, if included in a student’s IEP or section 504 plan, students may use phones or other electronic communication devices for learning. This flexibility is crucial, because there are thousands of Ohio kids with special needs who use assistive technology. Under no circumstances should devices that children need to communicate with teachers, interact with peers, or learn in classrooms be banned from schools.
The second exception is for students who might need their phones to monitor or address a health concern. Again, this is a necessary flexibility that districts should be required to honor. The American Diabetes Association, for example, has noted that many students with diabetes use medical devices that require access to a smart phone to monitor their health and share data with school nurses and caregivers. These students, and others with health conditions, must be exempt from cellphone restrictions.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that DeWine is attempting to strengthen Ohio’s cellphones-in-schools policy. In his 2024 state of the state address, he asserted that phones are “detrimental” to learning and students’ mental health and that “they need to be removed from the classroom.” He made similar comments in his 2025 address, saying that phones “rob our children of precious time to learn.” He cited Teays Valley Local School District, which implemented a policy requiring students to lock their phones in pouches during the school day, and noted “profound” results in areas like student engagement, attendance, grades, and discipline. “What is happening in Teays Valley,” he said, “is happening in school buildings all across Ohio that have banned phones during school hours.”
Evidence that stricter bans are having a positive impact likely strengthened DeWine’s resolve to push for legislative revisions. But results from the state’s 2024 survey gauging cellphone policy adoption and implementation probably also helped. Forty-one percent of respondents reported that cellphone use is disallowed at any time during standard school hours under their state-required policy.[1] But another 45 percent reported that student cellphone use is merely limited to selected times of the school day, such as during lunch or between classes. That means close to half of Ohio schools opted to institute partial, rather than total, bans. The 14 percent that had not yet determined their policies at the time of the survey could push the majority in either direction. But as of December, more schools were choosing partial bans.
The governor’s budget proposal would require these schools to rework their policies—but only if lawmakers in the House and Senate get on board. Right now, it’s unclear if they will. Some might feel it’s too soon to make tweaks to legislation that they unanimously passed less than a year ago. Others could have concerns about parent pushback, of which there has been plenty. As is always the case during budget season, only time will tell. But for right now, kudos to Governor DeWine for standing firm on his commitment to end cellphone distractions in schools.
[1] Ninety-eight percent of all possible respondents replied to the survey, representing 599 traditional districts, 336 charters, eight independent STEM schools, and forty-nine JVSDs.
