Governor Kathy Hochul announced a plan to restrict cellphone use in New York schools during her budget address Tuesday. The proposed state budget for fiscal year 2026 includes a $13.5 million line item to create phone-free K-12 schools, a policy Hochul said would “transform our classrooms” while improving student mental health and academic performance.
By the start of the next school year, students would be required to disconnect from their devices during school hours, “bell to bell,” the governor said, citing Pew research that found 72% of high school teachers report cell phones are a major problem in their classrooms. Implementation would be left up to the schools, which could use the allotted funding to purchase equipment, like pouches or cubbies, and to train personnel to enforce the ban.
New York School Cellphone Ban
New York is the latest state to push for banning phones in schools, a movement that’s gaining ground in both red and blue states. Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, California, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, and Louisiana have all put measures in place to restrict cellphone use during the school day. Proponents, including a major New York teacher’s union, say the bans not only remove a source of distraction, they also give students a much-needed break from addictive devices that can stunt their social skills, their attention spans, and their emotional well-being.
“Our kids will finally be free of the endless distraction of social media and all the mental health pressures that come with it,” Hochul said Tuesday.
Opposition from Parents
But not everyone is pleased. According to Elizabeth Stosich, associate professor and associate chair of the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education, some parents would prefer their kids to be a call or a text away, especially given concerns over gun violence. Teachers and administrators who create no-phone policies in a piecemeal fashion often find themselves in conflict with these parents. Stosich is in favor of the move from Albany to ban phones in schools statewide.
“Teachers don’t want to police cell phones. They want to teach kids. I think this can shift norms and expectations to be—We don’t use cellphones in schools. And it’s not just me as a teacher saying this. It’s not just me as a principal who has to fight parents, or even as a superintendent with angry parents at my school board meetings. This is a statewide policy,” she said.
Inside a Phone-Free Classroom
According to Xiaying “Summer” Li, a high school foreign language teacher in New York City and a Ph.D. student at the Graduate School of Education, banning phones in school has benefits. She’s had a “no phones” rule for about three years now and says it has transformed the dynamics of her classroom for the better.
“In the beginning, students gave me lots of push-back. After two weeks, the first thing students would do was turn in their phones to me,” said Li. Rather than seeing kids texting or scrolling TikTok in class, she now sees them watching, listening, and engaging with the material.
“That is the reason I support this policy. I believe we will see a tremendous change in academic performance and discipline,” she said.
