School administrators provided mostly positive feedback to lawmakers curious about implementation of a 2023 law prohibiting students from using their phones.

School officials provided the House Student Academic Success subcommittee feedback last week on , a 2023 law that prohibits phone use during instructional time, prohibits access to certain websites on school networks, and requires instruction to students to responsibly use social media.

“It’s gone very very well in many of our classrooms, especially I would say it goes really well in our classrooms with struggling learners. The teachers have seen the benefit of that increased interaction with each other, the increased focus,” said Toni Zetzsche, principal of River Ridge High School in Pasco County.

The law, introduced by Rep. Brad Yeager, a Republican representing part of Pasco County,  support before serving as a sort of model legislation across the nation.

“The first step of this process: remove phones from the classroom, focus on learning, take the distraction out. Number two was, social media, without just yanking it from them, try to educate them on the dangers. Try to help to learn and understand how social media works for them and against them,” Yeager said during the subcommittee meeting.

An analysis shows Florida was the first state to ban or restrict phones when the law passed, with several other states following suit in 2024.

Florida schools have discretion as to how they enforce the law, with some prohibiting cellphones from the beginning until the end of the day, while others allow students to use their phones during down times like lunch and between classes.

Some teachers have taken it upon themselves to purchase hanging shoe organizers for students to bank their phones in during class, Yeager said.

Since the law took effect in the middle of 2023, Zetzsche said, students in higher level college preparatory classes have partially struggled because of the self-regulating nature of the courses and the expectation that teachers give them more freedom.

But for younger and lower-performing students, the law has been effective, according to Zetzsche and Yeager used to gain support for the bill.

“In some of our ninth and tenth grade classrooms, where the kids need a little more support, those teachers are definitely seeing the benefit,” Zetzsche said.

Orange County Schools Superintendent Maria Vazquez said schools have combatted student complaints about not having their phones by filling down time, like lunch periods, with games or club activities.

Zetzsche said she has seen herself and others use the phoneless time as an opportunity to get to know more students.

“I know I’ve spoken with teachers, elementary teachers, middle school teachers, and high school teachers that have said, ‘I’ve had to teach students to reconnect and get involved or talk to people.’ They are doing a better job of focusing on that replacement behavior now, I think. I think we all are,” Zetzsche said.

“I think, as a high school principal now, when I see a student sitting in the cafeteria and they’re on their cellphone watching a movie, I immediately want to strike up a conversation and say, ‘Hey, are you on the weightlifting team? Do you play a sport?’” Zetzsche said.

Bell to bell

Orange County schools decided not to allow phones all day, while Pasco County chose to keep phones away from students during instructional time, the extent the law requires.

“It was surprisingly, and shockingly, pretty easy to implement,” Marc Wasko, principal at Timber Creek High School in Orange County, told the subcommittee.

Rep. Fiona McFarland, a Republican representing part of Sarasota County and the chair of the subcommittee, encouraged further planning to better enforce the law.

“I will tell you, because not everything we do up here is perfect, there are some schools that I’ve heard of where, even if the teacher has a bag, kids are bringing a dummy phone, like mom’s old iPhone, and flipping that into the pouch where they’ve got their device in their pocket or if you’ve got long hair, maybe you can hide earbuds,” McFarland said.

“I mean, this is the reality of being policymakers, folks,” McFarland continued. “We make a law, we can make the greatest law in the world, which is meaningless if it’s not executed and enforced properly. We could pass a law tomorrow to end world hunger and global peace, but it means nothing if it’s not operationalized well and planned for well.”

Yeager told the committee he does not plan to seek to ban phones outside of instructional time, although other lawmakers could push for further phone prohibitions.

Department of Education obligation

The law requires the Department of Education to make instructional material available on the effects of social media, required for students to learn under the law.

“Finding the time to be able to embed that into the curriculum is really difficult. We are struggling with instructional minutes as it is, when we have things like hurricanes impact learnings,” Zetzsche said.

“We are struggling to get through the content, so it would be nice to have something from the Department of Education that is premade that we can share with students, but maybe through elective courses or some guidance on how they would expect high schools, how they would feed that information to students.”

Administrators said parental pushback has been limited, and Zetzsche added that parents have sought advice from schools about how to detach their kids from their phones.

“When we struggle with the student who’s attached to their cellphone, the parents want to put things in place.
They just don’t know what to do,” Zetzsche said, calling for the department to provide additional information to parents.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

The burden of compliance reporting can feel overwhelming to districts already struggling with limited bandwidth. Like 86% of districts in Michigan, , where I serve as superintendent, has been identified for improvement due to student poverty and a lack of resources. As a result, we are managing multiple state mandates, as well as more than 100 grants, many of which have their own reporting system.

It can be overwhelming, but the process has opened our eyes to innovative ways to address ongoing problems. By leveraging the power of data and relying on teachers’ expertise to transform it into tailored instruction, we have given students better opportunities for success.

1. Look at your partnership agreement as an extension of your continuous school improvement plan. While the metrics and standards of an agreement may differ from those you’ve established as a district, they deliver an additional set of insights to help discern if your goals for the next 18 to 36 months are on track for success.
   
   My district takes full advantage of data in determining whether to retain, refine or replace specific educational strategies, and whether changes are needed at the classroom, school or district level. For instance, identifying the root causes of low graduation rates both systemically and individually through data analysis provided us with the insights required to apply for and receive a grant for a college, career and graduation coach.

2. Embrace educators as the experts they are. Acknowledging vulnerability is one of the most important strategies superintendents have for building a strong team. Teachers are the best evaluators in determining what’s working — and isn’t — in the classroom. Encouraging them to help guide next steps is critical to moving the needle.
   
   Engaging our teachers in data analysis has empowered them to become skilled  in interpreting the findings and applying specific strategies to their daily instruction. We have used grant money to host teacher team meetings during the summer, and pay our educators their summer rate to attend. In these meetings, teachers apply their subject knowledge expertise to help all faculty members evaluate data and use it to plan for the fall.
   
3. Build a team outside of school to help navigate funding and compliance challenges. Everyone, from superintendents to education officials in county and state government, is overwhelmed by the deluge of data to wade through. By keeping students at the center, it is possible to find common ground and new opportunities to ensure their success.
   
   I recently spoke with a member of the attendance committee in Michigan’s Macomb County schools and a neighboring superintendent about the positive impact home visits had on keeping students engaged during the pandemic. A shared wish to continue the practice to help address chronic absenteeism led to a collaborative grant request. This fall, a came on board to help identify attendance barriers for students and provide social-emotional support to families. This partnership frees up resources for both districts in terms of funding, hiring and reporting.

Superintendents should also invite local and state legislators into their schools so they can better understand the undue pressures of compliance while learning more about their district’s successes. Legislators must see educators and administrators as the experts in the room, understand the differences among districts in their state and get a complete picture of students’ needs. When those who approve the budgets make it a priority to directly observe the impact of increased funding on academic outcomes — and the setbacks due to a lack thereof — they may approach future funding with a new frame of mind. 

The demands of compliance management and data analysis often overshadow the very work that funding was approved for. It almost feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy: Schools are allocated dollars to address significant problems, such as staff shortages or lack of appropriate resources for students, but can’t make the needed fixes because data and facts take priority over action and intervention. Superintendents must get creative to bring successful student outcomes back to the forefront by cultivating a collaborative team of experts eager to transform data into goal-focused action plans. Yes, the work is difficult, but when it comes to students’ educational futures, it is well worth it.