Currently, school districts in Utah can decide whether or not to ban cell phones. If state lawmakers have their way, all districts will have to implement bans during school hours.

Cell phones are already banned at Granger High School in West Valley City.

As thousands of students head home, each of them pulls a gray bag out of their backpack or bag. A staff member outside opens it using a magnetic circuit.

Inside is the valuable telephone that the students have not had access to since their first class that morning.

Republican Senator. Lincoln Fillmore and Rep. Douglas Welton wrote a Invoice for the 2025 legislative session, which would make student life at Granger more common.

Rather than leaving this as an open decision, the bill would require cell phones and smart devices, including smartwatches, to be banned during school hours. Districts would then have the option to enact a looser policy allowing phones if their community so desires. However, policies would still need to ensure that the devices “do not disrupt the learning environment,” according to the bill.

“The learning environment is not as focused as it used to be. There are too many distractions,” Fillmore said at a news conference Aug. 26 in Granger. He called the high school a “trailblazer in the state” in cellphone use.

“Mobile phones, especially internet-enabled mobile phones and smartphones with social media, are damaging the learning environment and the health of our children.”

The legislators are once again working together with The policy projecta nonprofit organization to pass and fund the proposed legislation. In the past, the group has successfully worked with lawmakers to free period products in schools and Secure financing for Youth centers at Utah’s high schools.

Like these initiatives, the cell phone bill would involve a public-private partnership to finance it.

“We will advocate for schools to have resources to purchase the necessary technology or physical interventions to help students and teachers break the habit of smartphone use in the classroom,” said Emily Bell McCormick, president of The Policy Project. These could include things like: bag used at Granger High.

The bill provides $4.85 million. McCormick said the state would contribute about $3.5 million one time and the rest would come from donors.

“We have lost enough of our children’s attention, emotional energy and ability to learn because of this epidemic. We should have acted ten years ago. We should have acted five years ago. But we will act now,” McCormick said.

This is not the first time the Utah Legislature has talked about banning cell phones in schools. But it is something that more and more states start doing.

A Attempt 2023 was defeated in the first committee. However, that bill did not provide any funding or allow counties to set more permissive policies. There is also more public support for this latest initiative.

Earlier this year, Governor Spencer Cox sent a letter to school districts where they are asked to put their phones away during class.

If the bill passes during the next legislative session, it would take effect at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year.

Granger High, which is located in Granite School DistrictI just started using the bags at the Start of this school year. Before the first class in the morning, students show their teacher that their phone is turned off and locked in their bag. They keep the bag with them all day but cannot access it until 2:10 p.m. when the final bell rings.

As expected, Principal Tyler Howe said students are still grieving over not having access to their phones. But after nearly two weeks, he said, students are starting to get used to the routine.

Cameron Black, a 17-year-old 12th-grader, is in favor of turning off and putting away cell phones during class. He said teachers are very involved in their lessons and when students pull out their phones, “it’s just disrespectful.”

In the short term, this new system will be difficult for students because they are so used to being on the phone, Black said.

“But in the long run, hopefully it will transform our future society back into a normal society instead of what we have been experiencing recently.”

Still, he wishes he could carry his phone with him during lunchtime, when he likes to take a break, play games on his phone, and collect himself before the next class.

Although the school year is just beginning, Howe said they have seen “big changes at our school,” and some teachers have already told him they are getting more done in the classroom.

“They’re ahead of schedule because there just aren’t as many distractions,” Howe said.

Another sign that things are working is the cafeteria. Howe said it’s noisier because students are more engaged with each other than with their devices.

He called it a “good sound.”