Eight states have implemented statewide policies on K-12 school cellphone usage

Welcome to the Thursday, Aug. 15, Brew.

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Eight states have implemented statewide policies on K-12 school cellphone usage
2. Wisconsin voters defeat two ballot measures that would have limited the governor’s power to distribute federal funds
3. Elections to determine majority control of Tallahassee City Commission

Eight states have implemented statewide policies on K-12 school cellphone usage

Since 2023, eight states have adopted policies that limit or ban cellphones in classrooms or schools—or encourage districts to move in that direction. Six of these states are Republican trifectas, one is a Democratic trifecta, and one has a divided government. Florida was the first state to enact a law banning student cellphone use during class time. Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed House Bill 379 on May 9, 2023, saying: “Being normal kids, like kids were prior to social media, is important. The social media [causes] more problems than it solves, and I think it causes more harm than good. So, let’s have our education system be as much about traditional education as we can.”

Lawmakers in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Vermont introduced legislation this year to ban or restrict cellphone use in schools. Those bills died at different points in the legislative process. Oklahoma has a Republican trifecta, while Vermont and Kansas have divided governments.

Background

As students prepare for another school year, there’s a national debate over how K-12 schools should regulate student cellphone usage. While many students use cellphones to keep in contact with their parents during the school day, district leaders, educators, and lawmakers have raised concerns that cellphones may hurt student learning and mental wellbeing.

Some of the largest districts in the country have recently restricted or limited student cellphone usage, including the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest district in the country. In some states, lawmakers have backed legislation banning or limiting student cellphone usage in public school classrooms, arguing the decision is too urgent to be left to individual districts.

Opponents of outright bans have said schools should focus on teaching students how to use technology responsibly.

Districts usually set cellphone policies or leave decisions to individual schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, around 76% of schools said they banned the non-academic use of cellphones or smartphones during school hours in the 2021-22 school year, down from 91% in 2010. In many high schools, students may use cellphones at designated times during the school day, such as lunch.

Recent developments

Arkansas, Delaware, and Pennsylvania have announced pilot programs this year to provide funding for some districts to experiment with cellphone-free school days. Delaware and Pennsylvania did so through legislation, while Arkansas did so through a letter from the governor. In Delaware, for example, Gov. John Carney (D) signed a law allocating $250,000 to a handful of districts this fall for purchasing pouches for storing cellphones. These pouches, such as the ones made by YONDR, use a magnetic locking mechanism to keep students from accessing their phones. At the end of the school day, the school provides a proprietary device for unlocking the pouches. On July 2, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) announced a similar pilot, saying, “To help address these issues, this pilot grant program will provide pouches for students to safely store their phones during the school day, creating a better learning environment and inviting in-person socialization.”

The LAUSD board voted to ban cellphones in schools on June 18. The New York City Department of Education, the nation’s largest district, could be next, as it considers a ban on student cellphone use that could begin in February.

Want to learn even more? Listen to today’s episode of On the Ballot, Ballotpedia’s weekly podcast, where Ballotpedia Podcast Producer Frank Festa interviews Ballotpedia Staff Writer Samuel Wonacott and Chalkbeat New York Bureau Chief Amy Zimmer about the cellphone ban landscape on a national level and in New York City.

Wisconsin voters defeat two ballot measures that would have limited the governor’s power to distribute federal funds

Note: Vote percentages below may change as more votes are counted.

Here’s a quick recap of what happened in Tuesday’s primaries in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin. We covered five races as battlegrounds. Three things to know about Tuesday’s elections:

• Incumbent Ilhan Omar (D) defeated Don Samuels (D) in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, giving progressive House members, known as the “Squad,” a win after fellow Squad members Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) lost their primaries earlier this summer.
• Voters rejected Republican-backed ballot measures that would have limited Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ (D) power to distribute federal funds.
• Trump-endorsed Tony Wied (R) won the Republican primary for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District.

Before we dive deeper into the battlegrounds themselves, let’s return to Wisconsin’s ballot measure results.

Voters defeated a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited the legislature from delegating its power to appropriate money 57.45%-42.55%.

Republican lawmakers supported the amendment, claiming it would add “more oversight and serve as a check on the governor’s powers.” Democratic lawmakers opposed it, claiming the measure “would slow down the distribution of money when it needs to be spent quickly.”

Voters defeated a constitutional amendment that would have required legislative approval via a joint resolution before the governor could expend federal money appropriated to the state 57.53%-42.47%.

Like Question 1, Republican lawmakers supported the amendment and Democrats opposed it, largely on the same grounds as they did on Question 1.

Speaking on both ballot measures, Evergreen Action representative Courtney Bourgoin said, “Voters on both sides of the aisle know that the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal investment is good for the state. Wisconsin’s ability to take advantage of the historic climate and clean energy investments from the IRA and IIJA directly hinges on the state’s ability to allocate funding. By rejecting this proposal, voters ensured that this funding remains accessible for both Wisconsin’s growing clean energy economy and vital emergency aid for communities across the state during climate disasters.”

State Rep. Robert Wittke (R-62) said prior to the vote, “Billions of federal dollars pour into our state in the last couple of years. These Supplemental Federal funds were important to our state’s economic wellbeing, but only Governor Evers made the determination for allocation of all that money without legislative consideration. AJR 6 would amend the Wisconsin Constitution by prohibiting the governor from allocating federal moneys without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or by legislative rule, and it also provides that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated.”

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “The outcome of the two referendums bucked the trend in Wisconsin — voters typically ratify them. Out of the 200 times lawmakers have proposed changes to the state Constitution since 1854, voters have only rejected the changes about 50 times, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.”

Alabama, Arizona, and Missouri have either already decided or soon will decide on administration of government ballot measures. The Alabama measure, which would have exempted local laws or local constitutional amendments from the budget isolation resolution process, was defeated 51.31%-48.69%. The other two will be decided in November.

Both of the Wisconsin measures fell within the scope of the administrative state, which is a term used to describe the phenomenon of executive branch administrative agencies exercising the power to create, adjudicate, and enforce their own rules. In tomorrow’s Brew, we will further analyze the relationship between the administrative state and the Wisconsin ballot measures.

Now onto highlights from some of the other battleground races from Tuesday.

Minnesota

Incumbent Ilhan Omar (D) defeated three other candidates with 56.2% of the vote. Don Samuels (D), the second-place finisher, had 42.9%. Omar and Dalia al-Aqidi (R) will be on the ballot in November.

In the 2022 primary, Omar defeated Samuels 50.3%-48.2%. In the 2020 primary, she defeated Antone Melton-Meaux (D) 58.2%-38.5%.

The New York Times’ Neil Vigdor said, “While [Omar] prevailed, it has been a rocky summer for the ‘squad,’ the ultraliberal faction of lawmakers in the House. Two other members of the group, Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, suffered primary defeats in June and August after pro-Israel groups spent millions trying to influence those contests. … Ms. Omar’s race did not see a large amount of campaign spending originating outside the district.”

Incumbent Michelle Fischbach (R) defeated Steve Boyd (R) 64.6%-35.4%. Fischbach and A. John Peters (D) will be on the ballot in November.

The Star Tribune’s Ryan Faircloth said, “Fischbach has one of the most conservative voting records in Congress, yet she still attracted a primary challenge from Boyd, a staunchly religious small-business man from Kensington. Boyd blocked Fischbach from winning the GOP endorsement in April and had campaigned across the sprawling rural district for months. Anti-establishment activists rallied behind Boyd over the longtime politician Fischbach, whom they consider to be a political insider.”

Wisconsin

Rebecca Cooke (D) defeated two other candidates with 49.6% of the vote. Katrina Shankland (D), the second-place finisher, had 41.6%. Cooke and incumbent Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R) will be on the ballot in November.

The Wisconsin Examiner’s Henry Redman said, “During the race, the two candidates’ [Cooke and Shankland] policy views appeared similar, but Cooke painted herself as the outsider with support from centrist Democrats.” Citing University of Wisconsin-La Crosse professor Anthony Chergosky, Redman added, “[T]hat despite being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, Cooke and Van Orden mirror each other as candidates who have attempted to position themselves as political outsiders.”

Tony Wied (R) defeated two other candidates with 40.1% of the vote. Roger Roth (R), the second-place finisher, had 34.2%. Wied and Kristin Lyerly (D) will be on the ballot in November. The previous incumbent, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R), resigned on April 20. The special primary election to fill this vacancy until Jan. 3, 2025, also took place on Tuesday. This coverage is only for the regular election.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Lawrence Andrea said, “Former gas station owner Tony Wied won the Republican primary Tuesday to replace retired U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher following a campaign that leaned almost exclusively on former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. … Tuesday’s result underscored Trump’s influence in the northeastern Wisconsin House race. Wied, who had never before run for public office, beat out two men who have both represented parts of the district at the state level for more than a decade.”

To view other election results from Tuesday, click below.

Elections to determine majority control of Tallahassee City Commission

Throughout the year, we’ll bring you coverage of the most compelling elections—the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.

Today, we’re looking at the Aug. 20 nonpartisan primary for two seats on the Tallahassee City Commission. Seven candidates are running and four lead in endorsements, fundraising, and local media attention: incumbent Jacqueline Porter and Rudolph Ferguson in the election for Seat 1, and incumbent Curtis Richardson and Dorothy Inman-Johnson in the election for Seat 2.

Tallahassee is the capital of Florida. With a population of 196,169 as of 2020, it is the 22nd most populous state capital in the nation.

The election will determine whether majority control of the city commission will lie with a group media outlets have described as traditional Democrats or a group described as progressives. Though the commission is nonpartisan, the media has identified Mayor John Dailey and two other commissioners as traditional Democrats; they hold three of five seats. Dailey has endorsed Ferguson and fellow incumbent Richardson.

Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, who serves with Porter in the minority, has endorsed Porter and Inman-Johnson. The media has identified Matlow and Porter as progressives.

A win for Porter and Inman-Johnson would give progressives a 3-2 majority on the commission, while a win for Ferguson and Richardson would expand the Dailey-aligned majority to 4-1. A mixed result would maintain the commission’s current 3-2 balance.

According to WFSU, Dailey and Matlow have been engaged in a “years-long feud…[involving] personal attacks in and out of city hall, as well as both backing candidates against each other’s political allies.” Tallahassee Reports describes Matlow as “the face and leader of the local progressive movement” and Dailey as having “pushed back on progressive proposals with a number of 3-2 votes.”

Tallahassee city commissioners are elected at large by the entire city rather than representing districts within the city. If one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, that candidate wins the election outright. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top-two finishers advance to the Nov. 5 general election.

The election in Tallahassee is one of 15 local battlegrounds we are covering as of Aug. 13.