The Pennsylvania House and Senate have passed a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in schools.

The Senate approved Senate Bill 1014 47-3 on Wednesday after the State House passed it earlier this week by a 141-62 vote.

Governor Josh Shapiro is expected to sign off on the bill, the implementation of which would begin by the start of the 2027-2028 school year.

“I called for this in my Budget Address and repeatedly urged the legislature to act — and now, we’ve brought Democrats and Republicans together to get this done for our students and our educators,” Shapiro said in a post. “It’s time to get back to the basics in school and let our kids be kids.”

In February, the bipartisan “Phone-Free Schools” bill received a 46-1 vote in the Senate. The bill allows school districts to decide the implementation, enforcement, and storage of students’ phones during the day. It includes exceptions for students with individualized learning plans or other medical needs, and teachers can also request to incorporate the devices into a lesson plan with administrative support.

It was unanimously approved in December by the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee. Senators Art Haywood of Abington Township and Maria Collett of Fort Washington are listed as co-sponsors. 

“Students need to spend time focused on learning, on socializing with their peers and on developing the critical skills they’ll need later in life,” Shapiro wrote in a social media post on January 29. “I’m calling on the State Legislature to send a bill to my desk requiring our schools to implement policies that take cellphones and mobile devices out of kids’ hands from the time they start class until the time they leave for home — helping teachers and kids focus on learning.”

Nearly 40 states currently restrict cell phone use in schools, according to Education Week. 29 states enforce a full “bell-to-bell” ban, also known as an “away for a day” policy.

In April, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study which found schools with phone bans saw minimal academic gains and “close to zero” effect on attendance. It also noted that suspension rates increased about 16% but faded in subsequent years.

From the study:

In the first year after adoption, disciplinary incidents increase, and we find suggestive evidence that student subjective well-being falls, consistent with short-term disruption. However, disciplinary effects fade, while the estimated effects on well-being appear to recover and become positive in later years. For academic achievement, average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero. High schools see modest positive effects, particularly in math, while middle schools see small negative effects. We find little evidence of effects on school attendance and no clear evidence of improvements in self-reported classroom attention or perceived online bullying

The study was co-authored by researchers from Stanford, Duke, the University of Michigan, and UPenn and analyzed strict school cell phone bans using lockable Yondr pouches across thousands of U.S. middle and high schools.

The study is below:

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