The Kansas Cell Phone Ban

Gabriella Moore

On March 19, 2026, Governor Laura Kelly signed a bill into law that states that school districts in Kansas must require that students have their phones stored in an inaccessible place starting with the 26 – 27 school year.

The law got passed because research shows that that having a cell phone at school takes away from students’ learning and affects their mental health. According to an article in the Washington post, “A 14-country study cited by UNESCO found that the mere presence of a mobile phone nearby was enough to distract students from learning. It can take up to 20 minutes for students to refocus.” Indian Hills Principal, Dr. Capper, agrees with this concern and said, “I don’t believe that cell phones should be in the class rooms because of how it can take away from learning.” More than 200 school districts in Kansas already have cell phone bans in school because of how many people think it’s taking away from students’ learning.

“The law won’t affect our school that much, but I’m confused, because what does the state mean by ‘inaccessible?’” Dr. Capper stated. This could mean that Indian Hills doesn’t know what the school is going to do to implement the policy next year.

Kansas isn’t the only state to do this, there are about 32 other US states that have passed this law since the end of 2024 and the start of 2026.

Kansas passed this law without funding school districts so many districts including the Shawnee Mission School District don’t know how they can keep students’ phones inaccessible because there’s no funding, or they just have no idea how this ban is going to work.

Many other school districts in Kansas don’t know how they will stop kids from having their phones at school; some kids are choosing to leave their phones at home but many kids do not want to do that in case there is an emergency.

For all the school districts in Kansas, the estimated cost to keep cell phones inaccessible in the school day is about 13.4 million dollars. Larger districts in Kansas, including Shawnee Mission and Olathe, have an estimated cost of 1 million dollars to comply with the mandate. Smaller districts in Kansas, like Gardener, estimated their cost and it would range from 50,000-300,00 dollars just to keep phones inaccessible.