Senate panel backs bill urging schools to adopt distraction-free cell phone policies

The Idaho Senate Education Committee on Thursday voted to recommend Senate Bill 1032 to the full Senate, advancing legislation that would require each school district to assess mobile-device impacts on students and adopt a policy that "promotes distraction-free learning" by the end of the year.

The bill, introduced by Senator Burnt, does not mandate a single statewide rule; it directs local school boards to craft policies suited to their districts and allows districts to include health and individualized exemptions. "I truly believe that this policy is going to save lives," Burnt told the committee, adding he meant the change primarily in terms of relieving students from "the shackles of addiction, from anxiousness, and from depression."

Committee members heard more than a dozen witnesses in favor of the bill, including school board leaders, superintendents, and students from districts that have implemented phone restrictions. Laura Stone, chair of the Blaine County School District 61 board of trustees, described her district's August…