Texas Governor Greg Abbott is set to visit Amarillo on Friday and ceremonially sign legislation passed during the recent legislative session to restrict the use of phones in schools, which was authored and championed by local Texas State Representative Caroline Fairly.
House Bill 1481 will be in effect during the 2025-2026 school year for public schools and open-enrollment charter schools. As noted in previous reports, schools and districts will be required to create policies to either store students’ cell phones and personal communications devices (tablets, smartwatches, radios, pagers, etc.) during the school day or ban them on campus.
Other states have enacted similar bans in recent years, including California and Florida, though the specific policies vary in severity and allowances for local discretion.
