Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order directing local school boards to create a cell-phone free school policy earlier this year. The Board of Education even came up with a model policy. But executive orders are temporary, and legislators are hoping to codify such a ban during the 2025 session.
Northern Virginia Senator Stella Pekarsky is carrying a ban on cellphones in schools in her chamber in 2025. It will be the second year in a row such a ban has been pitched in Richmond, but Pekarsky said last year’s failures could lead to successes this year.
“I think this is one of the areas where many of us can kind of agree and come together and do some good for kids,” Pekarsky told Radio IQ.
Her effort mimics parts of a Governor Glenn Youngkin executive order which asked, with guidance from the state’s Board of Education, for a bell-to-bell ban with few exceptions. Part of the problem is the freedom school boards have to dictate policy - it’s enshrined in the state's constitution. But Pekarsky said she thinks her bill requires a policy to be passed, and sets guardrails, but still leaves a lot up to localities.
One such guardrail is a limit on how kids can be punished for violating the policy, namely they can’t be removed from the classroom for violations.
“It would defeat the purpose of a having a bill that focuses on distraction free learning if kids are getting kicked out of school,” she said.
Some localities are already passing policies that differ from Youngkin's. In Virginia Beach kids can still use them during lunch. Roanoke City' and Henrico County allow for phone use between classes.
Other localities, like Richmond City, started banning cellphones in some schools before Youngkin's order. RPS plans to implement a division-wide policy in line with the governor's next month.
Punishments for violations currently vary between localities.
Chesterfield County Delegate Mark Early had a school cellphone ban bill last year. It failed to get out of the House - a bipartisan senate version met the same end. And while Early has some concerns about dictating punishments to localities, he’s open to working with those across the aisle to get the law over the finish line in 2025.
“I’m very happy that there appears to be some bipartisan consensus on this issue, and I think there really is," Early told Radio IQ. "But I think we’ve got to do it in a way that’s not just lip service to the issue.”
Southside Senator Bill Stanley carried the Senate version last year alongside NOVA Senator Jennifer Boysko. But Stanley told Radio IQ, “The horse has left the barn” on this issue.
"After Governor Youngkin’s executive order to the Virginia DOE has put a firm and uniform policy in place, they suddenly want to allow schools to set their own ban policy," he said in a text message Friday morning. "This bill unfortunately is going to get sent straight to legislative voicemail.”
The 2025 legislative session starts in January.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
