LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky state lawmaker is trying for a second time to pass legislation that forbids K-12 students from using cellphones during the school day except in an emergency or if a teacher gives them permission for instruction.

The new House Standing Committee on Primary and Secondary Education approved House Bill 208 sponsored by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mount Vernon, with a unanimous vote. The bill now goes to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

A similar bill from Bray in 2024 was approved by the House Education Committee, but did not get approval from the House of Representatives.

The 2025 bill additionally puts new limits on social media that a student is not allowed by a teacher to use for an instructional purpose.

The Kentucky Board of Education would have to approve a regulation preventing social media and sexually explicit material from being transmitted via any video or computer system, software or hardware product, or internet service managed or provided to local schools.

Each local school district and school must utilize the latest available filtering technology to ensure that social media and sexually explicit material is not made available to students.

The Kentucky Department of Education would have to make available to school districts and schools upon request and without cost, state-of-the-art software products to prevent access to social media and sexually explicit material.

Bray said school districts already have the technology to filter out prohibited social media.

The ban does not include any device a student is authorized to use pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, told lawmakers Wednesday he had also been working on the bill.

He said the prohibition on cellphones during the school day was being proposed for academic reasons and for the mental health of students, given that cyberbullying was a problem.

Bourbon County High School banned cellphones from the classroom in May 2024.

In November, Morgan Adkins, principal of Bourbon County High School, told lawmakers that prior to the new policy, individual teachers decided whether students could use cellphones in classrooms

The uniform policy had improved the school climate, he said. Adkins said discipline problems had improved and there was more focus on academics. He said school staff had not experienced the student opposition that he had anticipated.

Students are more engaged in the classrooms and there was less cyberbullying, he said.

In Fayette County Public Schools, the district allows each school’s decision-making council to decide how cellphones are handled on their campuses and in their classrooms, said district spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith.

Jefferson County Public Schools’ officials are considering a full ban on cellphones during the school day, WHAS reported Wednesday.

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