By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
Florida lawmakers voted on Tuesday to take a proposed phone ban in school another step forward.
The House Education Administration Subcommittee unanimously supported Rep. Demi Busatta’s proposal, HB 949, to ban students from using their phones during the school day, furthering the 2023 law banning students from using phones during instructional time.
Some schools in the state have opted to enforce a full ban on the devices, but the proposed law would take the mandate statewide and give teachers more credibility in enforcing the rule against defiant students.
“It’s really hard to tell a kid, ‘Hey we need to take your phone again,’ but when you say, ‘It’s the law,’ it just kind of ends the conversation there,” Rep. Fabian Basabe said during the subcommittee meeting.
School administrators told representatives earlier this year that the phone ban during instructional time has shown positive results, the Phoenix reported. Administrators shared that they observed students socializing more and struggling learners perform better.
“The amount of funding invested in these algorithms that have made them so addictive, you see adults have a hard time and imagine kids and it’s like a psychological manipulation that we can’t expect kids to manage on their own,” Basabe said. “It truly has become an addiction.”
Like the 2023 law, the proposal would leave it up to school districts how they want to enforce the law. Some schools provide lockers for students to bank their phones in, others use hanging shoe organizers.
It would put school boards in charge of designating locations where phone use can be permitted.
Florida was the first state to pass an instructional time ban, and in 2024 several other states followed suit with varying bans.
Busatta said the primary opposition to the bill is from some parents concerned they won’t be able to contact their kids during the school day.
“To which I’ve said, ‘Well, when we were all in school, we didn’t have phones except for maybe Porras, because that was yesterday,’” Busatta said, poking fun at the youngest member of the House, Rep. Juan Porras, at 27. “But we didn’t have them, and our parents managed to get a hold of us by calling the front office.”
Rep. Marie Woodson said some teachers have told her that students have used phones to cheat, which the law would help mitigate.
Lawmakers raised concerns about students’ ability to access devices during emergencies.
The bill passed its first committee stop, 17-0. Its next stop is the Education and Employment Committee.
