New York Could Be the Next State to Limit Students’ Cellphone Use

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday signaled her plan to include related legislation in her budget proposal, saying she hoped to limit distractions during the school day.

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Monday announced her intention to limit access to cellphones in schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade as part of her latest push to address children’s reliance on the devices.

In a statement, which provided no other details, the governor said she would include the legislation in her proposal for next fiscal year’s budget. She billed the initiative as a follow-up to one of her key achievements last year, the passage of legislation designed to protect young people from addictive algorithms on social media. She cited a Pew Research poll that showed 72 percent of high school teachers described students being distracted by cellphones as a “major problem.”

“Young people succeed in the classroom when they’re learning and growing — not clicking and scrolling,” Governor Hochul said Monday. “My upcoming budget proposal will put forth a new statewide standard for distraction-free learning in schools across our state.”

Speaking to high school and college students at Hudson Valley Community College on Monday, the governor acknowledged that restricting cellphone use might make her “very unpopular.”

Los Angeles Unified became the largest school district in the United States to ban cellphones last year. Virginia, Ohio and Minnesota are among the states that have moved to crack down on the devices in schools.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams backed away from a plan to ban cellphones in schools in August, saying the city wasn’t “there yet.”