Pennsylvania students are about to spend a school day without their phones, from the first bell to the last. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the state’s bell-to-bell cellphone bill on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at Lenape Middle School in Bucks County.
The new law leaves no gaps for the cafeteria or the playground, and every school in the state has until the 2027-28 school year to put a policy in place.
What the New Law Covers
According to Chalkbeat, phone use is prohibited the entire school day, including lunch, recess, homeroom and passing periods. The ban reaches internet-connected portable devices that students can use to send and receive messages or play videos and games, while school-issued, approved devices are excluded.
The measure is Senate Bill 1014, which the Pennsylvania General Assembly’s bill page lists as approved on Oct. 26, 2026, as Act 117 of 2026, with Sen. Devlin Robinson as prime sponsor. Anyone who remembers the household items only children of the 1980s remember will recall a school day with no screens in sight, and the little rituals of the 80s and 90s recall hallway life before phones…