A bill banning cell phone use in Georgia high schools is heading to Governor Brian Kemp’s desk.
House Bill 1009 passed the Senate unanimously on Monday. Senators said the bell-to-bell ban would limit distractions among students, while allowing them to focus on instruction. Senator Shawn Still sponsored the bill in the Senate. He says the ban has additional benefits as well.
“Teacher after teacher has said, please get these devices out of the classroom, but get them out of the lunchroom too,” according to Still. “Kids have forgotten how to communicate with each other. They've forgotten and lost the ability to have interpersonal skills. And those are critical things that we all learned growing up that kids in this generation do not have”
Senator Ed Setzler also spoke in support of the measure saying, “One thing teachers have said is the ability to not have to police phones and focus on instructing kids is the power of the proposal of 1009 and what a bell-to-bell ban really means.”
The ban goes into effect beginning on July 1, 2027. Lawmakers signed similar legislation in 2025 banning cell phones for the state’s K-8 schools. Cell phone use for medical and certain other exceptions would be allowed.
