By: Michael Achterling and Jeff Beach (North Dakota Monitor)
North Dakota lawmakers passed bills Monday that would prohibit student cellphone use during the school day, reviving one bill that had been defeated last week.
Senate Bill 2354 and House Bill 1160 differ on which schools would be affected and whether school districts would have the power to allow cellphone use during noninstructional time, such as in between classes or over the school lunch period. The bills are expected to have their differences ironed out in conference committees, each made up of three legislators from each chamber.
Senate Bill 2354 passed the House on a 61-29 vote.
The Senate bill, amended by the House Education Committee, would require all schools, public and private, to follow the statewide student cellphone ban. The House bill would only affect public school students.
Under the Senate bill, students would be allowed to stow their phones in their lockers while turned off, or on silent, instead being secured in a lockbox or lockable pouch purchased by the school district.
School boards would also have the ability to create their own cellphone policies for student-use during noninstructional time under the Senate bill. The House bill would ban the use of the devices from “bell to bell.”
Rep. Anna Novak, R-Hazen, voted in favor of the Senate bill and said limiting cellphone use would have a positive impact on the mental health of students
“Each school district knows what’s best for their respective schools and should be allowed to tailor their own policy based on their school’s needs as long as it fits in the parameters of this bill,” Novak said.
Rep. Daniel Johnston, R-Kathryn, said he voted against the bill because it regulates private schools the same as public schools.
“We should limit it to public school,” Johnston said.
Both bills allow students access to their phones while traveling between learning sites, such as career and technical academies.
The bills also require school districts to collect data on their cellphone policies to judge the impact on student behavior, mental health, disciplinary incidents, school attendance and academic performance. The districts will report the data to the Department of Public Instruction, which will be compiled into an annual report.
Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, requested a revote in the Senate after missing Friday’s vote where the House bill failed.
She said if local school districts had been more proactive on phone policies, the bill would not have been necessary.
She said passing it would be “one of the most impactful things we do for teacher retention in North Dakota.”
The bill passed the Senate on a 42-4 reconsidered vote.
Sen. Mark Enget, R-Powers Lake, was among those who switched their vote from no to yes. He said he felt school districts in his part of the state had done a good job managing phone use, but also learned that’s not the case statewide.
