School cell phone restrictions

-Photo Courtesy 

By Tami Stevenson

When the 2025/26 school year begins, things will be a little different for Florida students. During the summer months,

a bill restricting student cellphone use was passed in Florida and became law on July 1, 2025.

     According to the summary, the bill establishes statewide restrictions on student wireless communications devices.

     The bill:

• Prohibits device use by elementary and middle school students during the school day.

• Prohibits high school use during instructional time, except as authorized, with teacher-designated storage areas and board-adopted usage zones.

• Provides exceptions for medical or educational needs.

• Requires the DOE to study full-day restrictions in high schools in six districts and submit a report with a model policy by December 1, 2026.

  The bill also authorizes private schools located in counties with four incorporated municipalities to construct new facilities on property that housed specified facilities, such as a church or theater, under that facility’s preexisting zoning and land use designations without obtaining a special exception or a land use change and without complying with any mitigation requirements or conditions.

        The bill establishes new funding and reporting requirements related to charter schools. It Requires school districts to share any local government infrastructure surtax revenues with eligible charter schools based on enrollment, for levies approved on or after July 1, 2025.

     *Requires school districts to provide to district charter schools information related to shared discretionary revenues.

     *Requires use of a State Board of Education-adopted standard monitoring tool to monitor charter school performance.

     The bill modifies charter school conversion procedures and establishes a new class of “job engine” charter schools focused on job creation and economic development.         

    *Requires that charter school conversion applications submitted by parents must originate from parents of students enrolled in the school to be converted and removes the requirement for demonstration of teacher support.

     *Authorizes municipalities to apply to establish a job engine charter school, either as a new or conversion school, and allows such schools to give enrollment preference to children of employees of identified job-producing entities.

     *Expands Workforce Development Capitalization Incentive Grant eligibility to include job engine charter schools and clarifies eligibility for serving students in grades 6-12.

     The bill also addresses School Bus Trespass by modifying the enforcement of trespassing laws on school property by:

     *Expanding the definition of “school” for purposes of the school trespass statute to include any vehicle operated, owned, or contracted by a school district for student transportation.

     *Clarifying that verbal notice or a posted sign is sufficient to support prosecution for trespass.

     *Authorizing arrest without a warrant based on probable cause for trespass on a school bus.