On April 1, 2025, Senate Bill 158 was introduced to the Ohio congress by Sen. Jane Timken. The focus of this bill is to further enforce the prohibition of cell phones in school, and it was signed into the state budget on June 30 by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Plain City is located within congressional districts 3 and 26, and both senators representing said districts are cosponsors of the bill. Sen. Michele Reynolds represents the former and Sen. Bill Reineke the latter. In total, the bill passed by a vote of 30-2.
As Reineke states over email, “the policy change regarding cell phones in school is essential to transform the mindset that has children more focused on their devices than on their education and peers. Keeping kids focused and working together throughout the day will promote collaboration and set up our children for success and create the strongest, most skilled workforce possible. This legislation ensures we are connecting our children to a better future by disconnecting them from their screens.”
The new law states that districts have to create more detailed and enforced policies.
According to FOX journalist Brad Hamilton, they have until Jan. 1 of 2026 to get those plans in place. While there’s no state-mandated enforcement strategy, schools will be expected to comply or risk scrutiny from state education officials.”
Principal Clint Hayes says that the school board was responsible for the early implementation of the law.
“The school board did their research and looked at how phones can be harmful to students and impact their learning in a negative way,” says Hayes, “and they decided to go ahead and implement the policy before it became law.”
According to Hayes, phones are not permitted to be used on school property during school hours. They are expected to be stored away in a locker. He also noted that this policy applies to the entire district.
The policy has evoked mixed reactions from students, one of which is junior Beth Robirds, who believes that the laws are too strict. “I think that not having phones in class is a good thing, but the laws have taken it too far because during lunch if you just want to chat with your friends and show them something on your phone it gets taken away immediately. I think that’s way too far.”
Experts have varying opinions banning phones in school. Psychology Today journalist Jen Lumanlan points out that other countries that include phone use in their programs still maintain high test scores. “International data also fails to support the smartphone theory. If phones were driving academic decline, we’d expect to see it in countries with high smartphone adoption… Sweden rebounded from a 2012 low point with smartphone penetration eight points higher than the U.S.”
On the other hand, The New York Times journalist Natasha Singer points out the misuse of cell phones within schools. “The issue isn’t simply that some children and teenagers compulsively use apps like Snap, TikTok and Instagram during lessons, distracting themselves and their classmates,” states Singer. “In many schools, students have also used their phones to bully, sexually exploit and share videos of physical attacks on their peers.”
Despite this, some students, such as sophomore Franklin Troyer, are very firm when it comes to their opinion of the policy.
“I absolutely hate it because we live in a world where we are dependent on phones,” he says. “And it’s just gone.”
