LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a new law to ban smartphones from public school classrooms starting this fall, making good on a pledge to keep the devices out of instructional time.
“We know that phones impede a student’s ability to learn,” Whitmer told a crowd of reporters, students and educators on Tuesday ahead of a bill signing at Waverly High School.
“They are by far the most disruptive distraction in our classrooms … designed to keep you scrolling, and teachers struggling to keep the class engaged while competing against social media.”
Under the new law, students will still be able to have phones with them at school, but smartphones won’t be allowed during instructional time. Students could carry basic phones, and it will be up to school officials to determine how rigidly to enforce the policy moving forward.
The legislation will take effect this fall, and sponsoring state Rep. Mark Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills, said he is “anxious to see the results.”
The new law has been a long time coming, with both the Democratic-led Senate and Republican-led House advancing proposals to limit cellphone use in schools. They reached a compromise earlier this year.
“This was an effort to get something on the books, to create a statewide standard, and then everybody can take it from there,” Tisdel told reporters.
What the law does, and when
While many schools in the state have already adopted their own cellphone policies, the new law will create baseline regulations for all public school districts, where officials could still consider stricter rules.
The law directs school districts to limit smartphone use during instructional time but does not propose penalties for those that do not, and it does not apply to private or parochial schools.
Under the law, school districts must post their cellphone policy online and detail how it will be enforced.
Students will still be able to access their smartphones between classes or at lunch. During instructional time, they could be allowed to carry “dumb phones,” which can send texts or make calls but not access TikTok, Snapchat or other potential distractions.
The law does not restrict the use of medically necessary devices that function through smartphones — such as a glucose monitor — and district-owned devices designated for instructional use.
A companion law from state Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, also signed Tuesday, would require schools to create a protocol regarding when and how students can use a smartphone during an emergency, such as a bomb threat or active shooter situation.
“Now, we have the weight of state law behind what I think everyone can agree upon: That cellphones don’t belong in the classroom during instruction,” Polehanki said.
The smartphone ban will take effect this fall for the start of the 2026-27 school year.
Michigan lags
When Whitmer first called for a ban on smartphones in the classroom during her 2025 State of the State address, nine states had already adopted school cellphone bans of some kind. More have followed suit.
Now, about three dozen states have similar policies in place — several of which are stricter than the new Michigan law.
In New York, lawmakers adopted a “bell-to-bell ban” that requires schools to develop storage plans for devices all throughout the day with no exceptions for smartphone use at lunch or in between classes.
A Texas ban goes further, covering not just smartphones but also smartwatches and tablets, barring students from using them at all hours of the day, including passing periods.
“More than half of the states already have policies like these on phones in class like ours, and they’re already seeing the benefit of it,” Whitmer said, suggesting a drop in behavioral issues and a rise in test scores.
Even in Michigan, a number of schools have independently adopted phone bans ahead of the law’s signing.
That’s the case at Waverly High School, where math teacher Carcia Young said she’s noticed a “powerful” change in student behavior, including better attention spans, adding: “When students are fully present, they participate more, retain more and achieve more.”
As for whether Michigan lawmakers could consider a stricter policy in the future?
Tisdel, the Rochester Hills Republican, was open to it, telling reporters after the bill signing that if there’s “calls from the grassroots — from the superintendents, the principals, the school teachers” on how the law “could be improved or strengthened, we can certainly do that.”
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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.