Scoop: Bipartisan duo wants to ban cellphones in military's K-12 schools
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Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.). Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Congress is joining the phone wars, with a bipartisan pair of freshmen senators introducing a bill on Tuesday that would ban the use of cellphones in schools for kids of U.S. military members.
Why it matters: Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) — who both served overseas and sit on the Armed Services Committee — want to draw attention to an issue that bedevils parents and experts alike.
- There are more than 65,000 children of service members who attend DoDEA schools in the U.S. and overseas.
- Some school districts already ban students from using their cellphones during the school day.
- Research highlights the harms of cellphones — and social media — to child development, but implementing changes has been challenging.
Driving the news: The Banks and Slotkin bill is titled "Restoring our Educational Focus on Children of U.S. Service Members at" Department of Defense Educational Activity — or REFOCUS DoDEA Act.
- "Cell phones in the classroom distract from learning and lead to all kinds of issues for students," Banks said in a statement first provided to Axios.
- "At school students should be able to focus, learn, and build real relationships, and we cannot shy away from taking bold action to support that goal, including banning cell phones in the classroom," Slotkin said in her statement.
- The bill allows for exceptions such as medical emergencies and lets DoDEA decide where and how cellphones should be stored.
Zoom out: Just this year, governors of Arizona, Arkansas and New York have signed school cellphone bans into law. D.C. officials announced this month they would enforce a ban next school year.
- As of the end of April, 11 statewide phone bans or restrictions have been implemented and seven states issued policy recommendations, according to KFF.
- Last summer, a book by Jonathan Haidt, "The Anxious Generation," documenting the dangers of "phone-based" childhoods, stormed to the top of the New York Times' bestseller list.
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to reflect that both senators served overseas, but Slotkin is not a military veteran.
