Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice Students at a public charter science academy sit at their desks during English class in Warr Acres, Okla., in August 2025. Pennsylvania is considering a bell-to-bell cellphone ban like Oklahoma.

Splitting from their colleagues in the state Senate, Republicans on the House Education Committee largely voted against two bills that would restrict cellphone use for public and private school students in the commonwealth.

The effort had near-unanimous support in the Senate and bipartisan cosponsors, but both proposals moved through the House panel on a 15-11 vote, with only Rep. Jill Cooper (R-Westmoreland) breaking from her colleagues to vote in the affirmative.

“I just wish that schools that already had a policy in place were given some additional deference,” said Minority Chair Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster). One school in his district had such a policy and had received just two complaints, he noted, “ironically enough, from parents (and) not a single one from the students.”

Cutler also said he’d like to see public and private schools addressed separately, allowing for parents to send their children to private options that might be more lenient.

But he agreed with Rep. Mandy Steele (D-Allegheny), the House version sponsor, that such legislation would be a major issue for the session.

“Children are the future of this country, and if we don’t get this right, we are jeopardizing (that),” said Steele. “Anyone with eyes on kids can see that something is wrong.”

Majority Chair Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh) said he’d “been skeptical” of a state-level mandate for all 500 school districts, but ultimately moved a “bell-to-bell” ban forward that starts in the 2027-2028 school year.

“It’s complex legislation,” continued Schweyer, pointing to bipartisan criticism during a November committee hearing on the issue. “Of 203 House members, there might be 600 different opinions on the bill on any given day, and I probably have held three or four of them myself.”

The committee approved a “gut and replace” amendment to both versions, making them essentially identical. The language built upon exceptions for students with individualized learning plans, medical needs or language barriers by adding one for students with family members with documented medical conditions.

Most Republicans voted against the changes and Cutler noted that allowing students with learning plans to access could disclose a student’s disability or “create an environment of the haves and the have nots.”

“I personally have had classes where I’ve had 17 out of 25 kids with IEPs,” added Rep. Marc Anderson (R-York), a former teacher. “This will, for many teachers, make it more difficult to enforce.”

Teachers may also petition to use phones in specific circumstances. Tuesday’s addition allows principals to authorize a general exception for all students, grants districts immunity for lost or damaged phones in “good faith” cases and provides instructions for communicating with parents in emergencies.

Schweyer said he wanted to give teachers “as much flexibility as possible to use cellphones as an educational device.”

“You may have heard me ask the question, ‘When’s the last time you bought a calculator?’ The answer is, ‘Not often,'” continued Schweyer.

Gov. Josh Shapiro called on legislators to advance such a proposal in his February budget address, signaling his support for limiting student cellphone use. The bill now moves to the House for further consideration.

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