Texas Enacts Statewide Ban on Cellphones During School Hours

AUSTIN, TX — Texas public schools will soon be required to ban or restrict student cellphone use during school hours under a new law signed this week, ending local discretion over classroom device policies.

House Bill 1481 mandates that every public school district and open-enrollment charter school adopt a policy prohibiting personal communication devices such as smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and radios during the school day. Schools can either completely ban devices from campus or require students to store them in a designated area.

Districts have 90 days to comply with the law, which allows schools to confiscate and permanently dispose of devices after giving parents 90 days’ written notice.

The new law formalizes restrictions that were already in place in some of Texas’s largest districts.

Houston ISD prohibits phone use during school hours, while Katy ISD plans to enforce stricter rules in the 2024–2025 school year requiring all devices to be turned off and put away during class.

Devices issued by schools for academic use are exempt from the ban.