Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday signed a recently passed bill into law that will ban K-12 students from using cell phone and other personal communications devices during the school day.
House Bill 1481 takes effect immediately and applies to public school and open-enrollment charter schools.
HB 1481 provides some flexibility for school districts, allowing them to decide whether to allow cellphone use during extracurricular activities and whether they want to restrict cellphone use by prohibiting students from bringing their devices to school or designating a “secure storage” space for the devices.
Devices include cell phones, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, radios, pagers, or any other electronic device capable of telecommunication or digital communication.
Each school district will also decide how to implement and enforce the policy, with potential penalties like confiscation, detention, or other disciplinary actions.
The law will take effect at the start of the 2025-26 school year.
