Young people using smartphones.
In most cases, students in the Madison school district are allowed to have their phones in class, but some Republican lawmakers want to ban students statewide from using their mobile devices during instructional times.
Under a bill approved Thursday by the state Assembly, school boards would be required by 2026 to adopt policies restricting the use of phones, tablets, laptops and gaming devices during class time. There would be exemptions for students with disabilities and teachers could permit students to use their phones in an emergency.
The Senate verion of the bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Education on Feb. 12. An aide in the office of Sen. John Jagler, who chairs the committee, said there is no date yet for either a hearing or floor vote on the bill.
Spokesperson Ian Folger says that each school in the Madison school district is free to make its own rules on when students can and can’t use their cell phones at school. But district policy does prohibit students from using their phones if they disrupt the learning of others and phones are banned in restrooms, locker rooms and “other sensitive areas.”
In opening remarks at a Feb. 11 hearing before the Assembly Committee on Science, Technology and AI on Feb. 11, Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, co-author of the bill along with Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, argued that the bill is purposefully flexible for districts, and said that it would provide consistency among schools.
“Without a strong, unified approach to the problem, most teachers eventually throw up their hands,” Kitchen said. “This is not something we are doing to the school districts. It's something we're doing with them.”
Cabral-Guevara cited a national 2023 study by Common Sense Media — a nonprofit that provides data on the impacts of technology use by children — that found that 97% of the 200 11- to 17-year-olds surveyed used their phones during the school day. She also argued that the bill would shift the responsibility for enforcing cell phone restrictions from teachers to lawmakers, who could act as the “bad guy.”
Teachers quoted in an article by K-12 Dive, a publication that analyzes K-12 news and trends, said they found it difficult to prevent students from glancing at their phones during school. The piece also notes that phone use increased during COVID-19, in part because students could use their phones more while learning remotely. Still, these personal devices can also have curricular benefits such as allowing students to engage in live surveys or access content and data during a lesson.
California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia have enacted measures banning or restricting students’ use of cellphones in schools. Kitchens and Cabral-Guevara noted they looked at what other states have done with phone bans.
Madison school board members did not respond to several requests for comment on whether they support the bill. Madison Teachers Inc. did not provide an opportunity for interviews with teachers after repeated tries.
In his remarks, Kitchens acknowledged that some believe students need to have cell phones in the event of a school shooting. But he said that law enforcement is “unanimous” that in cases of an active shooter, “the last thing they want is for kids to be on their phones. They should be running and hiding and listening to directions.”
Dell Underbakke, a special education teacher in the Madison school district, testified that there are many reasons why students “carry wireless communication devices to school.”
He also said local school boards should be the ones creating policies “grounded in the support of the families in their district.”
Underbakke urged legislators to encourage local school boards to create their own policies. “I feel a consequence of a top-down directive will compromise the influence of local control and diminish the critical role of family engagement in the public education arena,” he said.
Rep. Darrin Madison, D-Milwaukee, criticized the bill for not covering private and charter schools. Cabral-Guevera responded, saying she has reached out to many private school teachers that have already pushed to implement similar policies.
Representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction — Josh Robinson, assistant state superintendent for the Division of Academic Excellence, and policy advisor Sara Knueve — testified that the use of technology as a learning tool was here to stay.
But Knueve noted that students have demonstrated that when they use cell phones, particularly for non-academic purposes, it "disrupts their learning, it disrupts their concentration."
Unstructured use of phones often leads to cyberbullying, social isolation and anxiety, Knueve added.
Knueve said that only 10% of Wisconsin school districts don’t have a cell phone policy, leaving the decision to individual classrooms. Robinson and Knueve recommended that school boards implement restrictions on cell phone use during instructional time while maintaining local control over enforcement. They also called for clearer distinctions between bans on personal devices and school-issued devices.
“The DPI believes that local districts understand their students' needs best and should have the flexibility to create policies with input from community partners when limiting or prohibiting the use of electronic communication devices during instructional time,” Robinson said.
