II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 404
To direct the Surgeon General to conduct a study regarding the use of
mobile devices in elementary and secondary schools, and to establish
a pilot program of awarding grants to enable certain schools to create
a school environment free of mobile devices.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY5, 2025
Mr. C
OTTON(for himself, Mrs. BRITT, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. KELLY) intro-
duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To direct the Surgeon General to conduct a study regarding
the use of mobile devices in elementary and secondary
schools, and to establish a pilot program of awarding
grants to enable certain schools to create a school envi-
ronment free of mobile devices.
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 ‘‘Focus on Learning 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘child with a 1
disability’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘English learner’’, 2
‘‘local educational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ 3
have the meaning given those terms in section 8101 4
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 5
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 6
(2) M
OBILE DEVICE.—The term ‘‘mobile de-7
vice’’ means any personal mobile telephone or other 8
portable electronic communication device with which 9
a user engages in a call or writes or sends a message 10
or any device in which the user plays a game or 11
watches a video, except that such term does not in-12
clude school-issued devices. 13
(3) S
CHOOL ENVIRONMENT FREE OF MOBILE 14
DEVICES.—The term ‘‘school environment free of 15
mobile devices’’ means an elementary school or sec-16
ondary school in which mobile devices of students 17
are kept in a secure container that is controlled by 18
a school administrator. 19
(4) S
CHOOL HOURS.—The term ‘‘school hours’’ 20
means regular school hours for instruction, including 21
lunch periods, free periods on school grounds, and 22
time between classroom instruction. 23
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SEC. 3. STUDY. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 2
date of enactment of this Act, the Surgeon General, in 3
consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 4
Services, shall complete a study regarding the use of mo-5
bile devices in elementary schools and secondary schools 6
nationwide, including— 7
(1) the impact of such use on— 8
(A) student learning and academic achieve-9
ment; 10
(B) student educational outcomes and en-11
gagement; 12
(C) student mental health; 13
(D) classroom instruction; and 14
(E) school climate and student behavior; 15
and 16
(2) an analysis of data collected from partici-17
pating schools in the pilot program under section 4. 18
(b) R
EPORT.—The Surgeon General, in consultation 19
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 20
submit a report to Congress containing the results of the 21
study conducted under subsection (a), and shall make 22
such report publicly available. 23
SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM. 24
(a) P
ROGRAMESTABLISHED.—The Secretary of 25
Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health 26
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and Human Services, shall establish a pilot program, 1
through which the Secretary of Education, in consultation 2
with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 3
award grants to local educational agencies to enable par-4
ticipating schools served by such agencies (referred to in 5
this section as ‘‘participating schools’’) to purchase secure 6
containers and install lockers in order to create a school 7
environment free of mobile devices. 8
(b) A
PPLICATION.—A local educational agency desir-9
ing to participate in the program under this section shall 10
submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 11
such manner, and containing such information as the Sec-12
retary may reasonably require, including— 13
(1) an assurance that such local educational 14
agency will identify and select participating schools 15
in a manner that engages the students, parents, 16
educators, principal, school leaders, and specialized 17
instructional support personnel, of such schools; 18
(2) an assurance that each participating school 19
will have a communication system (which may be 20
mobile devices) allowing teachers, administrators, 21
and staff to communicate with each other and with 22
local emergency responders; 23
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(3) an assurance that each participating school 1
will have a clear process for students to be able to 2
contact their parents; 3
(4) the policy of each participating school on 4
mobile device use during school hours as of the date 5
of the application; and 6
(5) a description of what each participating 7
school’s new policy on mobile device use during 8
school hours will be upon beginning participation in 9
the pilot program under this section. 10
(c) S
ELECTION.—The Secretary of Education, in con-11
sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-12
ices, shall select local educational agency applicants for 13
participation in the pilot program based on the Secretary 14
of Education’s determination that the applicant’s partici-15
pation will likely yield helpful information relevant to test-16
ing a school environment free of mobile devices. 17
(d) E
XEMPTIONS.—Participating schools may, while 18
maintaining a school environment free of mobile devices, 19
allow exemptions such that mobile devices may be used 20
during school hours— 21
(1) to monitor or treat health conditions; 22
(2) by students who are children with disabil-23
ities; and 24
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(3) by students who are English learners for 1
translation purposes. 2
(e) P
ARENTALNOTIFICATION.—Each local edu-3
cational agency that applies for participation in the pilot 4
program under this section shall— 5
(1) notify parents of students enrolled in ele-6
mentary schools and secondary schools that are 7
served by the agency and that may become partici-8
pating schools— 9
(A) not less than 30 days before submit-10
ting an application under this section; and 11
(B) upon receipt of a grant award under 12
this section; and 13
(2) solicit feedback from such parents before 14
applying for the grant about the local educational 15
agency’s desire to implement a school environment 16
free of mobile devices. 17
(f) A
DMINISTRATIVEEXPENSES.—The Secretary of 18
Education and the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-19
ices may use not more than 2 percent of the amounts 20
made available to carry out this section for administrative 21
expenses, data collection, and carrying out the study re-22
quired under section 3. 23
(g) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 24
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 25
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$5,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2025 through 1
2029. 2
Æ
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