Texas bill to ban cellphones in schools gains traction

Legislation that would make students "hang up" their cell phones in Texas schools is ready for a hearing at the Capitol. AUSTIN, Texas - Legislation that would make students "hang up" their cellphones in Texas schools is ready for a hearing at the capitol. Restricting students' cellphone use in schools is allowed under current state law.

Not every school district has a policy, and among those that do, there are differing rules regarding access to phones. HB 515 makes the policy mandatory. What they're saying: "One of the most critical pieces of this legislation, is that it is a true 6-to-7-hour break from your cell phone and your screen," said Rep.



Ellen Troxclair. The Lakeway Republican was among the first to file a Cellphone Restriction Bill. As of Thursday afternoon, HB 515 had 50 House members signed on as a co-author.

That's a critical milestone, and it signals the legislation is ready for a committee hearing. Then a debate on the house floor. "It's basic common sense, right? We don't want to send our kids to school with an addictive device.

We would never send them to school to put a TV out on their desk. And yet that's exactly what we've done," said Rep. Troxclair.

Troxclair first spoke to FOX 7 last year about restricting student access to cellphones. In an op/ed article she called it a mental health issue. That’s an opinion she still holds.

"And we know for a fact now this is tied directly to the five-plus hours a day that these kids are spending on social media. So, by having them out of sight, out of mind, they don't have that peer pressure to be on social media. They don't have bullying.

They don't have the comparison. We've seen cheating going down, and we've just seen overall enthusiasm for interacting in person with their friends at school again, skyrocket," said Rep. Troxclair.

The other side: There has been some pushback to the idea. Students in Houston held a walkout last year to protest a cell phone ban. Some parents have also brought up the Uvalde school shooting.

During the shooting, several students made calls for help while trapped inside. "A lot of things went wrong in Uvalde, as we all know. But, ultimately, proliferating debilitating mental illness among a generation of our youth is not the way to solve that problem," said Rep.

Troxclair. Dig deeper: New school safety legislation has been filed this session. Earlier this week, a Senate committee pushed forward SB 260.

That bill provides school districts more money to hire armed security guards and buy new campus safety equipment, which was mandated in 2023. The Source: Information from the Texas legislative session.