GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2025 H 2 HOUSE BILL 87 Committee Substitute Favorable 2/25/25 Short Title: Cell Phone-Free Education. (Public) Sponsors: Referred to: February 11, 2025 *H87-v-2* A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1 AN ACT TO DEVELOP POLICIES TO RESTRICT STUDENT USE OF CELL PHONES IN 2 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 3 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4 SECTION 1.(a) Article 7B of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes is amended by 5 adding a new Part to read: 6 "Part 7. Classroom Policies. 7 "ยง 115C-77.1. Cell phone-free education policy. 8 (a) Governing bodies of public school units shall adopt a cell phone-free education policy 9 to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cell phones during instructional time. 10 (b) At the beginning of each school year, governing bodies of public school units shall 11 notify parents of all students enrolled in the public school unit of the Cell Phone-Free Education 12 Policy adopted under subsection (a) of this section. 13 (c) The requirements of this section shall not apply to the following: 14 (1) Remote charter academies as defined in G.S. 115C-218.120. 15 (2) Remote academies as defined in G.S. 115C-234." 16 SECTION 1.(b) G.S. 115C-77.1 as enacted by this act shall not apply to virtual 17 charter schools participating in the pilot program as authorized by Section 8.35 of S.L. 2014-100, 18 as amended by Section 8.13 of S.L. 2016-94, Section 7.13 of S.L. 2018-5, Section 7.13 of S.L. 19 2022-74, and Section 7.26 of S.L. 2023-134. 20 SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with 21 the 2025-2026 school year. 22