To ban or not to ban? Lawmakers create bills to ban cellphones in Alabama public schools
This legislative session, lawmakers mean business when it comes to banning cellphones for K-12 students in classrooms. Lawmakers just introduced bills in the House and Senate that will make this a state law.
"Let's create the best learning environment for our students and get this bill to my desk so I can sign it into law,鈥� Gov. Kay Ivey said.
Ivey supports the idea in her State of the State address Tuesday night.
"According to a recent survey, 72 percent of high school teachers in the country reported that cellphones are distracting students. We have also learned from parents that teens are spending an average of almost five hours every day on social media, and it is having a negative impact on their well-being,鈥� Ivey said.
Right now, school districts across Central Alabama have their own rules on whether students can have their phones with them in the classroom. and would prohibit a student from using, operating, or possessing a wireless communications device on school grounds during the instructional day.
米兰体育 13 ran into House Rep. Juandalynn Givan at Railroad Park in Birmingham. She says she supports her colleagues who wrote the bill.
"Our educators are overworked. They're underpaid. They are actually raising the children of another that when they raise issues about the child and the cellphone, the parent defends the child and not the educator,鈥� Givan said.
A new mom of a seven-week-old baby, Dallas Brooks, agrees with the ban.
鈥淭here's so much on social media, online in general and I think it's a big distraction or the kids dealing with and you know dealing with mental health I think it will just be better,鈥� Brooks said.
Grandparent Valerie Crum says there's a plus to students having their phones, but she has another idea.
鈥淚 still think it should be equal all the way across. If they're going to do it, it has to go all the across (the state),鈥� Crum said.
If this were to pass, it would go into effect in the 2026-2027 school year.