Zach Wendling
LINCOLN — The first of Gov. Jim Pillen’s 2025 legislative priorities advanced Thursday to the full Nebraska Legislature: banning most student cellphones in public K-12 schools.
The Legislature’s Education Committee voted 7-0, with one member absent, to advance Legislative Bill 140 from State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, which was introduced at Pillen’s request.
As amended by the committee, the bill would ban student use of electronic communication devices, such as cellphones, on school grounds or while they are attending a “school instructional function,” such as field trips. But it would leave school districts wide latitude of when and where they could authorize student cellphone use.
Should the bill pass, all of Nebraska’s 245 school districts would need to adopt device-related policies to conform to the law by the start of school this fall. The bill doesn’t apply to private schools. Enforcement and possible disciplinary action for violating the policies, if any, would be up to individual school districts.
Stakeholder participation would need to be included in drafting cellphone guidelines “to ensure that such policies are responsive to the unique needs and desires of students, parents and educators in each community.”
A survey of 218 superintendents in October and November, by the Nebraska Department of Education, indicated that 80% of responding districts had already implemented similar policies.
LB 140, supported also by the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, would not prohibit such devices from being used:
- If needed as part of a student’s special education plan.
- When authorized by a school district for educational purposes during instructional time.
- In cases of emergency or “perceived threat of danger.”
- When necessary to monitor or manage a student’s health care.
- When otherwise determined appropriate by the school board or otherwise allowed by an appropriate school employee.
Some Education Committee members said they don’t intend to prevent school districts from choosing to allow cellphones during lunch or passing periods, as many allow in existing policies.
Pillen has said his goal is to prohibit cellphones during school hours “from bell to bell.” He’s also urged parents and grandparents to limit student cellphone use at night before bed.
Sanders said she was excited that her bill advanced.
State Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, committee chair, told the Nebraska Examiner that while cellphones can be positive, children and adults can become almost addicted to or spend too much time on their devices.
“I think most parents will celebrate the fact that the screen time for their students in school, at least, will be limited,” Murman said.
Laura Strimple, a spokesperson for Pillen, said in a statement to the Examiner that the governor knows senators will give the issues in the bill “their utmost attention.”
“This is a bipartisan issue and a unified Education Committee proves that,” Strimple said in a statement.
“Guardrails are necessary to ensure that kids are free from distractions while attending school, and it’s the responsibility of adults to make sure the harmful effects of cellphone use are minimized to the greatest degree possible,” the statement continued. “Additionally, this legislation allows for Nebraska’s talented teachers to get back to teaching and not policing cellphone use in the classroom.”