Georgia’s Senate passed House Bill 340, the Distraction Free Education Act, in a 54 to 2 vote on Tuesday, March 25.
According to Bill Track, a search engine for state and federal legislation, the bill is sponsored by Carter Barrett, Houston Gaines, Scott Hilton, Jan Jones, Carmen Rice, Will Wade, and Jason Anavitarte.
According to the bill, the public schools of Georgia for kindergarten through eighth grade would be required to prohibit students from accessing personal digital devices from the sound of the first bell starting school until the last bell ending school. This would include any school activities such as assemblies, transitions, or breaks.
The bill defines a “distraction-free education” as a learning environment where access to personal electronic devices is restricted to minimize distractions, improve academic outcomes, and increase meaningful interactions and focused learning experiences.
If signed into law, public schools have until Jan. 1, 2026, to create procedures for storing devices, managing emergency communications, and establishing consequences for policy violations. These devices are defined as smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets.
California, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and Minnesota are the nine states that have officially banned or restricted phone access during school days.
Each state has gone about the ban differently. Still, in Georgia, the bill would allow students with Individualized Education Plans or medical plans that involve devices to use said devices as needed.
“I mean, I don’t think it needs to be a law to ban phones in schools,” said Lisa Amabilep, a Milledgeville local. “So, I think they should be able to have access to their phones. I don’t think they need to be using them in the classroom.”
Florida was the first to ban phones and block access to social media on the district wi-fi in 2023, according to the Associated Press.
The bill is currently headed to Gov. Brian Kemp’s office for a final sign-off or to be vetoed.
Phone usage in schools has caused students to be distracted, and coupled with social media, it has adverse effects on students’ mental health.
“It doesn’t matter if you live in a big city or a rural town, urban or suburban, all children are struggling and need that seven-hour break from the pressures of phones and social media during the school day,” said Kim Whitman, co-founder of the Phone Free Schools Movement.
Some locals do have concerns about this bill due to the high volume of school shootings in America.
“I mean, they could be like, there could be rules put in place for them to like keep them (phones) up, but they need to have their phones on them just in case like all the shootings and different stuff that’s going on,” said Ashyia Willis, a Milledgeville local. “They want to get in contact with their parents if they’re going through something at school.”
This bill will require schools to have a monitoring system in place to ensure the new policies are being followed, which could involve a designated staff member who would conduct audits of personal device storage and reiterate the procedures of not having an individual device.
The Department of Education would provide information to help implement this law and help schools develop student and parent events that would garner more device-free time for the students, according to the bill.
The citizens of Georgia await to see if Governor Kemp signs off on the bill and how the initial implementation will go.