# Search: cell phones in school 140 documents found; confidence high. 1. Senate floor session, March 23, 2026 (legislative day 36) id: meeting:2026-03-23/senate-floor | meeting_transcript, Georgia State Senate, 2026-03-23, held https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-23/senate-floor Summary (AI-written, not source text): The Senate passed HB 1009, extending school-day phone restrictions to high school students, after rejecting an amendment allowing access between classes. Senators also passed measures on advanced math, forestry tax credits, local property-tax relief, bankruptcy protections, school financial oversigh > Soon as you get to the building, your phone is put away." And they can still do that. Thank you, senator. Yes, sir. Got one more question. So recognize senator from the 4th. Senator, yield? To my esteemed chairman, I absolutely do. Thank you, sir. Um, senator, are you aware that, um, Georgia Southern University College of Education did a study back latter part of last year? They, uh, contacted over 3,000 people, parents, children, so forth and so on, and over 74% of those people that responded said they wanted to take cell phones entirely out of all s- all the schools. I am aware, and I'm one … cite: meeting:2026-03-23/senate-floor@rf487d466b120#56491-58407 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-23/senate-floor?t=6940 > I've had a sc- one of my largest school districts took last year's legislation, and they banned the phones throughout the district, and the results, while talking to teachers, was astounding. She said that the students seemed happier. They communicated more with each other. They participated more in class. I think giving them the opportunity to not have them in class but then get them in the hallway, not having them here but then getting them here, all we're doing is, are torturing these kids that we know, based on scientific research, are addicted to this electronic device. We don't need 159 … cite: meeting:2026-03-23/senate-floor@rf487d466b120#58409-60118 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-23/senate-floor?t=7084 2. House floor session, February 24, 2026 (legislative day 23) id: meeting:2026-02-24/house-floor | meeting_transcript, Georgia House of Representatives, 2026-02-24, held https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-24/house-floor Summary (AI-written, not source text): The House focused on education, passing HB 1193 to expand early reading instruction and support, HB 372 to extend a retired-teacher return program, and HB 1123 to expand access to pre-K after-school care. Members also passed HB 1009 to restrict personal electronic devices in high schools and HB 1023 > Mr. Clerk, will you read the caption to House Bill 1009? 1-0-0-9. House Bill 1009 by Representative Hilton of the 48th and others to be entitled an act to amend Chapter 2, Title 20 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated rela- relating to elementary and secondary education so as to require local school systems and public schools to enact policies and procedures for use of personal electronic devices at school. This bill has been referred to the Committee on Education. That committee recommends that this bill do pass. You've worked on this subject before, haven't you? I'm glad to recognize … cite: meeting:2026-02-24/house-floor@r8504adc75f6f#105089-107290 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-24/house-floor?t=13602 > Nationwide, 40 states now have a statewide cell phone policy, with more than half of those a best practice of bell-to-bell approach. Georgia's the only state out of all 40 that actually stop at K through 8. We do understand high school differs from K through 8, which is why we have exclusions for dual enrollment, work-based learning, and apprenticeships. It's important to note that about half of our high schools have already adopted some form of a cell phone-free policy. Our e- our educators are not waiting on us. They've seen the benefits, and they are taking action now. Overall, 85% of … cite: meeting:2026-02-24/house-floor@r8504adc75f6f#107292-109446 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-24/house-floor?t=13737 3. House Education Committee, February 5, 2026 id: meeting:2026-02-05/house-education | meeting_transcript, Georgia House Education Committee, 2026-02-05, held https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-05/house-education Summary (AI-written, not source text): The committee approved five bills: HB 971 on cross-district access to college and career academies for homeschool and private school students; HB 383 on protections for student athletes' endorsement contracts; HB 1009 on restricting high school students' personal electronic devices during the school > And like I said, many high schools around our state, nearly half of them have already done some form of this. Um, thank you to the chairman and, and many others. You'll note on line 54 through 56, we do realize high school students, uh, have different responsibilities. We offer different opportunities for them. Uh, and so we made sure to exclude dual enrollment, work-based learning, apprenticeship programs, anything that may call, call them off of campus. Obviously, we want them to have access to their cell phone for that. Couple things were brought up to me, um, along the way, most notably, … cite: meeting:2026-02-05/house-education@rd0ff9f36c702#37830-39962 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-05/house-education?t=3552 > Uh, they've studied both schools that have it currently in place, and they also surveyed teachers, "Hey, what do, what do y'all wanna see?" Uh, and, and I thought the results were just amazing. Um, 80%... 87% of teachers, and this is a huge survey put on by Georgia Southern, said personal devices are a major source of distraction in their classrooms, 87% of teachers in the state. Uh, 95% said that personal device use is negatively impacting kids' ability to learn in the classroom. Um, I thought of another stat. Less than 10% thought banning these would impact school safety, uh, which is … cite: meeting:2026-02-05/house-education@rd0ff9f36c702#39964-42117 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-05/house-education?t=3686 4. Senate Children and Families Committee, March 17, 2026 id: meeting:2026-03-17/senate-children-and-families | meeting_transcript, Georgia Senate Children and Families Committee, 2026-03-17, held https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-17/senate-children-and-families Summary (AI-written, not source text): The committee advanced three bills: HB 181, allowing certain internationally adoptive families to obtain a Georgia Certificate of Foreign Birth without another court process; HB 1118, adding three weeks of maternal birth leave for eligible state employees and teachers; and HB 1009, extending school- > That's pretty good. Thank you, Madam Chair, for, for letting me address yet another bill. We've had a lot of good bills in here today, so we appreciate it. Um, I wanna just share a little bit more about the survey that Representative Hilton mentioned from Georgia Southern. We worked with Georgia Southern on that survey. Um, they, they were, they surveyed our membership, uh, thir- about 3,500 of our members. So I just wanna share just a few of the statistics from that because they're quite powerful, um, especially coming after the, the student perspective. I think the teacher perspective also … cite: meeting:2026-03-17/senate-children-and-families@rd9681ba1dae2#25052-27253 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-17/senate-children-and-families?t=2461 > So again, thank you all for considering this bill. Thank you to Representative Hilton for carrying both Hou- House Bill 340 and House Bill 1099, and PAGE is in strong support of this legislation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Tripp Richardson. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the committee. My name is Tripp Richardson with the Frontline Policy Council. Uh, we first wanna thank Representative Hilton for bringing this bill forward. Uh, Frontline sup- supported the previous initiative prohibiting cell phones in middle schools. We are pleased to support this legislation extending the … cite: meeting:2026-03-17/senate-children-and-families@rd9681ba1dae2#27255-29765 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-03-17/senate-children-and-families?t=2585 5. House Rules Committee, February 9, 2026 id: meeting:2026-02-09/house-rules | meeting_transcript, Georgia House Rules Committee, 2026-02-09, held https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-09/house-rules Summary (AI-written, not source text): The committee heard bill presentations on education, courts, financial regulation, property, public safety and other topics. The longest discussion concerned HB 934, with questions about the effect of transferring securities regulation on an ongoing investigation, staffing and agency workloads. Memb > Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. I referred to House Bill 1009, which is at the bottom of page two, House Bill 1009. As many of you in this room know, last year we went cell phone-free in our classrooms K through 8. Back by popular demand, we are now expanding that to include high schools. Thank you, Jim. Whip, have a question. Jim, uh, Whip Parks, you have a question? Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, how many other states prohibit high schools, uh, cell phones in high schools? So now we're up to 33 states, uh, nationwide, uh, that are cell phone-free. Thank you. For high … cite: meeting:2026-02-09/house-rules@rf08cc48964fb#16849-17544 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-09/house-rules?t=2465 6. Senate Education and Youth Committee, February 10, 2026 id: meeting:2026-02-10/senate-education-and-youth | meeting_transcript, Georgia Senate Education and Youth Committee, 2026-02-10, held https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-10/senate-education-and-youth Summary (AI-written, not source text): The committee heard a teacher recruitment and retention report prepared in response to SR 237, including recommendations on training, financial support, working conditions and school leadership. Members asked about transferring course credits, classroom phone restrictions, reducing teachers’ duties > ... technical schools? ... plus two with nurses. That's already done. But the one that we're pressing for now is education. If, if a person, if they start with a TAP, the Teacher As a Professional, if they start in high school, they're gonna take several courses there. If it transfers up, maybe they go to a technical school, or maybe they go to a USG institution. And that's what we wanna do, is have the articulation between the institutions so that they receive the credit for the classes that they've already taken, and that'll help give them some incentive. If I've already got something in … cite: meeting:2026-02-10/senate-education-and-youth@re32b2e697fd1#28360-30478 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-10/senate-education-and-youth?t=3153 > Mm-hmm. And so it's an issue. I can tell you, I have, I have twins. They've just graduated. They're in their first year of college. Their high school had already done it. Uh, now they didn't take it from them, but they had a process in place where they could not touch their phone, uh, during class time, and that helped a lot for them, I can tell you. Okay. Thank you. B- Th- Thank you. Um, Senator Setzler hold on just a second. But, um, the House had a study done by Georgia State University, and I think the numbers were like, Senator Hatchett, they contacted like 3,000 people, teachers, pa- … cite: meeting:2026-02-10/senate-education-and-youth@re32b2e697fd1#30480-32774 | https://georgiacommons.org/meetings/2026-02-10/senate-education-and-youth?t=3273 [4 more results not shown; lower `limit` or use `cursor`.]