Under a state law signed in 2024, Ohio K-12 public schools had to pass a policy limiting student device use in classrooms and elsewhere, though districts were given the leeway to determine the details.
Less than a year later and with virtually no opponents of those measures, Gov. Mike DeWine wants lawmakers to cross what he said is the “next bridge” by passing a statewide policy banning phones in schools—at least during the day.
It’s rare for the state to put in place a one-size-fits-all model for public schools, DeWine said at a Tuesday news conference. He cited the recent state mandate that universally adds science of reading curriculum, which is based on teaching literacy through phonics and phonetics as well as vocabulary, fluency, and writing to read better.
“This is just as serious,” DeWine said Tuesday. “It’s interfering with with kids’ lives.”
Introduced by Sen. Jane Timken (R-Jackson Twp.), Senate Bill 158 would require schools to harmonize their recent policies by prohibiting students from having or using their devices during instructional hours as soon as next academic year.
“It is estimated that the average child in the classroom is getting over 11 notifications an hour,” Timken said. “(Students are) distracted. They’re addicted. You’re constantly wondering, ‘What am I missing? What notification do I miss?’”
In March 2024, DeWine said he didn’t think a statewide mandate for schoolwide rules was the answer. When asked Tuesday about the change of heart, he said he’s a “believer in seeing what works.”
“They’re actually looking at each other and talking and they’re laughing and they’re doing what kids normally do, so the results have been, I think, overwhelmingly indicate that our children in Ohio are better off,” DeWine said.
SB 158 got its first committee hearing Tuesday.
The language in it could pass as part of House Bill 96, the biennial budget, Timken said. The budget will be in the Senate as soon as Wednesday afternoon and is due to DeWine by June 30.
