House Education panel presses for phone-free schools language ahead of markup

May 8, 2025 — Members of the House Education Committee held a brief discussion on H54, the "phone-free schools" bill, and set a target to have draft language ready for a markup session the following day.

The committee discussed three possible approaches to regulating electronic devices and social media in schools: a statutory prohibition on phones at certain times, a ban on requiring students to use social media for instruction, and leaving broader rulemaking to the Agency of Education (AOE). Committee Member 1, House Education Committee member, said the committee had “sort of decided that the approach that the AOE suggested to us is probably a prudent way to go,” and asked members to be prepared to make hard decisions at the next meeting.

Committee Member 2, House Education Committee member, urged the committee to retain specific statutory protections. “Ultimately, I just want the double the bell prohibition and not compelling a student to have” use social media, the member said, naming two elements they considered essential. Committee Member 3, House Education Committee member, said she shared the concern about leaving too much discretion to the AOE: she supported moving the bill but worried that if the committee did not include guardrails in statute “it'll leave our hands, leave the senate hands, and then we'll become a shell of its former self.”

Members reported that Senate education leadership prefers to attach H54 language to H480, a miscellaneous education bill, to speed the process; that strategy would require draft language by the end of the next day. Committee Member 1 said staff member Beth would provide language for the committee to review before the markup, which is scheduled for tomorrow after the floor session. One member also noted a suggestion that the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) perform a study as part of the work on the bill.

The committee discussed retaining archival language that Representative Taylor had previously proposed; one member asked that the archival provision not be lost if the bill is combined with H480. No formal motion or vote was recorded in the transcript provided. The discussion closed with members asking colleagues to review testimony and staff proposals in advance of the scheduled markup.

The next step recorded in the meeting transcript is a markup session planned for the day after the meeting, with staff to supply draft statutory language and committee members expected to make decisions on specific prohibitions and guardrails.