Speaking of bans (see item 3 above), there’s a big debate about whether schools should ban cellphones in classrooms.

Few public policy books have had as swift an impact as psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s attack on the obsessive use of cell phones by kids: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.

In 2025 alone, 22 states enacted laws or regulations requiring local public school districts to ban or limit cell phone use, raising the total to 26 states.

The laws appear to be having an effect. Researchers from the University of Rochester and the RAND Corporation found that in the first full year that Florida’s in-school cellphone ban was in effect, student test scores increased by as much as 10% of a standard deviation.

The study reports that Florida’s law led to an increase in school suspensions but that quickly subsided after students realized the policy was there to stay.  The number of student unexcused absences also declined and the ability of students to focus on assignments grew.

But most importantly, student test scores significantly improved in the second year of the ban and across many subject areas.

It appears cellphone bans improve discipline and attention skills in schools, but real learning gains come from high-quality curriculum, tutoring, and instruction.

But cell phones can be a learning-enhancing tool as well – just like a laptop computer.

To us, the question is: who should decide: parents or school administrators.

This is yet another reason we continue to press for universal school choice programs. Then some schools can allow cell phones and others not. Then parents, not bureaucrats, can decide whether they want to send their kids to a school that bans cell phones.

Problem solved.