Governor Phil Murphy has officially signed the bell-to-bell cell phone ban for K-12 schools. This law will go into effect for the 2026 – ’27 school year.
Murphy is leaving office on Jan. 20, making the law a lame duck policy.
Murphy had previously announced the policy in his 2025 State of the State Address.
Per this law, schools now must have a policy that prevents students from using phones, and other smart devices, during the school day.
On top of banning cellphones during class time, the policy may also apply to students who are on the bus, and in attendance at certain school-sanctioned events.
New Jersey state guidelines require the policy to be written out within 90 days, giving schools time to develop their policy.
At the start of the 2025-’26 school year, Del Val initiated a cell phone policy of their own.
Del Val’s current policy bans cell phones during the school day, with exceptions during lunch and passing periods.
The cell phone policy was enacted along with Del Val’s wireless headphones policy, which banned any wireless headphones throughout the entire school day.
23 U.S. states have similar bell-to-bell cell phone ban policies, nine U.S. states have policies which ban cell phones during instructional time, two states do not specify if cell phones need to be banned in their policies and 17 states do not have a policy which require cell phone bans.
Ramsey High School already has had a policy banning cell phones for the past year, so Murphy signed the bill there, using the school as an example for the benefits of no cell-phones during the school day.
Within four months, the Ramsey High School reported a majority of teachers saw an increase in classroom engagement, better interaction between students, less distraction in the classroom and a higher attention rate in students.
“When you talk to educators and parents in school districts that have enacted similar cellphone bans, you will often hear the same thing[,]” Murphy said in an interview with the New Jersey Monitor. “Students are more focused, they’re less anxious, and they are socializing and laughing with each other, not through a screen, but in the hallways and classrooms. So with the legislation I’m signing today, we’re going to fundamentally improve the learning environment for every K-through-12 student by requiring every school district to follow the lead of campuses just like this one[.]”
