I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2700
To require State educational agencies to implement policies prohibiting the
use or possession of personal mobile phones by students in public school
classrooms during school hours, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL7, 2025
Mr. V
INDMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To require State educational agencies to implement policies
prohibiting the use or possession of personal mobile
phones by students in public school classrooms during
school hours, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utilize No Phones in 4
Learning to Unleash Growth in Grades and Educate Dis-5
traction-free Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘UNPLUGGED Act of 6
2025’’. 7
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Public education is critical to the economic 3
vitality, national security, and democratic govern-4
ance of the United States. 5
(2) Disruptions to the educational process di-6
rectly affect national productivity, civic engagement, 7
and workforce development. 8
(3) The excessive use of mobile phones during 9
school hours significantly impairs the ability of 10
schools to maintain effective educational environ-11
ments. 12
(4) A growing body of peer-reviewed literature 13
has documented the detrimental effects of mobile 14
phone usage in classrooms on attention, academic 15
performance, and mental health. 16
(5) Studies published in journals such as Com-17
puters in Human Behavior, Educational Psychology, 18
and the Journal of Adolescent Health have shown 19
that the presence of mobile phones in academic set-20
tings correlates with reduced focus, lower test 21
scores, increased academic procrastination, and 22
higher levels of anxiety and depression among stu-23
dents. 24
(6) Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, in both 25
his academic work and public commentary, has— 26
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(A) extensively documented the relation-1
ship between the rise of smartphone use among 2
adolescents and the decline in mental health in-3
dicators; 4
(B) produced research pointing to a sharp 5
increase in rates of anxiety, depression, and 6
self-harm beginning around 2012–2013, coin-7
ciding with widespread smartphone and social 8
media adoption among teenagers; and 9
(C) argued that overexposure to digital de-10
vices and online platforms undermines the de-11
velopment of resilience, emotional regulation, 12
and in-person social connection. 13
(7) Limiting in-school phone access is essential 14
to reversing harmful psychological and academic 15
trends in American youth. 16
(8) The presence of mobile phones in edu-17
cational settings contributes to increased rates of 18
bullying, cyber harassment, academic dishonesty, 19
and classroom distractions, thereby undermining the 20
core mission of public education. 21
(9) These issues are not confined to a single 22
state or region and are national in scope, with simi-23
lar patterns of disruption and diminished student 24
outcomes reported across state lines. 25
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(10) The cumulative effect of diminished edu-1
cational achievement has a substantial impact on the 2
national economy and workforce preparedness. 3
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-4
gress that each State educational agency, in coordination 5
with each local educational agency served by the State 6
educational agency and in consultation with educators, 7
parents, and students, should establish and enforce a pol-8
icy that— 9
(1) enables parents to notify students through 10
school officials about forgotten items, changes in 11
pick-up times, and other common issues; and 12
(2) enables schools to communicate with par-13
ents regarding time-sensitive items. 14
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF STUDENT PHONE POSSESSION IN 15
SCHOOLS. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than the first school 17
year beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, 18
each State educational agency, in coordination with each 19
local educational agency served by the State educational 20
agency and in consultation with educators, parents, and 21
students, shall establish and enforce a policy that prohibits 22
student possession or use of personal electronic devices, 23
including personal mobile phones, in public schools during 24
school hours. 25
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(b) SECURESTORAGEMETHODS.—A personal elec-1
tronic device policy established pursuant to subsection (a) 2
may include a requirement that public schools use secure 3
storage methods, including— 4
(1) lockable lockers; 5
(2) secure lock boxes; 6
(3) magnetic pouches or other signal-blocking 7
storage devices; or 8
(4) other technologies or materials deemed ap-9
propriate by the State educational agency. 10
(c) E
XCEPTIONS.—A personal electronic device policy 11
established pursuant to subsection (a) may permit excep-12
tions for— 13
(1) students with medical or health conditions 14
that require the use of a mobile phone or other per-15
sonal electronic device as part of a treatment or 16
monitoring plan, as certified by a licensed healthcare 17
provider; 18
(2) students with disabilities or special needs 19
for whom access to a personal mobile phone or other 20
personal electronic device is— 21
(A) documented as necessary in an individ-22
ualized education program; or 23
(B) included as part of services or accom-24
modations provided to the student pursuant to 25
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section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 1
(29 U.S.C. 794) (commonly referred to as a 2
‘‘Section 504 plan’’); 3
(3) on an individualized basis for students— 4
(A) who are English learners; 5
(B) who have a demonstrated need for a 6
personal electronic device to facilitate instruc-7
tion; and 8
(C) acquire documentation in support of 9
subparagraph (A) and (B) in accordance with 10
procedures established by the State educational 11
agency; and 12
(4) additional situations as States and local 13
education authorities deem necessary and appro-14
priate. 15
(d) M
INIMUMREQUIREMENT.—The requirements in 16
this Act shall constitute a minimum standard. Nothing in 17
this Act shall be construed to preempt or prevent a State, 18
State educational agency, or local educational agency from 19
enacting more restrictive policies regarding student pos-20
session or use of mobile phones or other personal elec-21
tronic devices during school hours, on school grounds, or 22
during school activities. 23
(e) G
RANTPROGRAMAUTHORIZED.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education 1
shall establish a grant program to provide funding 2
to State educational agencies to purchase, imple-3
ment, or maintain secure storage methods, and re-4
lated training or infrastructure, in accordance with 5
a personal electronic device policy established by 6
such State educational agency pursuant to sub-7
section (a). 8
(2) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 9
grant under this subsection, a State educational 10
agency shall submit to the Secretary an application 11
at such time, in such manner, and containing such 12
information as the Secretary may require. 13
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 14
For purposes of this Act: 15
(1) ESEA
TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 16
school’’, ‘‘English learner’’, ‘‘local educational agen-17
cy’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘State’’, and ‘‘State edu-18
cational agency’’ have the meanings given the terms 19
in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 20
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 21
(2) I
NDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM .— 22
The term ‘‘individualized education program’’ has 23
the meaning given such term in section 602 of the 24
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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 1
U.S.C. 1401). 2
(3) M
OBILE PHONE.—The term ‘‘mobile phone’’ 3
means any handheld communication device with cel-4
lular, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth capability, including 5
smartphones and similar devices. 6
(4) P
ERSONAL ELECTRONIC DEVICE .—The 7
term ‘‘personal electronic device’’— 8
(A) includes mobile phones, smartwatches, 9
tablets, and other handheld or wearable devices 10
with communication, internet, or multimedia ca-11
pabilities; and 12
(B) does not include laptops or tablets that 13
are authorized by the school and used solely for 14
instructional purposes under teacher super-15
vision so long as such laptops or tablets are re-16
stricted from accessing social media platforms, 17
personal email, messaging or texting services, 18
and other non-academic applications during in-19
structional time. 20
(5) P
UBLIC SCHOOL .—The term ‘‘public 21
school’’ means— 22
(A) a public elementary school; and 23
(B) a public secondary school. 24
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(6) SCHOOL HOURS.—The term ‘‘school hours’’ 1
means the period from the start of the instructional 2
day until the end of the instructional day, as defined 3
by the State educational agency. 4
Æ
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