Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposal to ban cell phone use during instructional time in schools is advancing in the Iowa Senate.
School districts would have to adopt phone policies starting the 2025-2026 school year. Also as part of the bill, 6th, 7th and 8th graders would have to learn about the effects of social media.
Dave Daughton represents School Administrators of Iowa and Rural School Advocates of Iowa. He says the state needs to make sure schools have sample policies and professional development before they have to enforce the bill.
“What has happened a couple times with some other legislation that went through schools, [educators] went ahead and implemented what they thought was right, and then got sample policies and things like that after the fact, which made them have to redo some of the work they did.”
Students with health issues or disabilities could also receive exemptions to the ban on personal devices.