Gov. Ferguson backs statewide ban on cell phone use during school day
SPOKANE - Gov. Bob Ferguson said Tuesday one of his “top priorities” in the next legislative session will be a statewide ban on K-12 students using their cell phones during school hours.
It’s a move that many schools in Spokane County have already taken, with educators and students reporting positive results.
Surrounded by students and educators at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School in Seattle, Ferguson said he supports an “away for the day” ban on cell phones from the first bell to the last bell for all public schools. Ferguson said he hopes the ban will be in place before the start of the 2027-28 school year.
“In our schools, digital distractions are causing kids to miss what’s written on the white board,” Ferguson said. “They’re focusing more on memes than on math.”
If legislators sign off on the idea, Washington would join a growing number of states that have already enacted such legislation. Currently, 29 states ban students from using their cellphones during the school day, while eight more either place restrictions on cellphone usage or encourage local jurisdictions to do so, according to Education Week.
“More than half of states across the country are moving in one direction and one direction only: they’re passing laws to keep cellphones out of classrooms,” Ferguson said. “Washington state is not one of the them, and that must change in the next legislative session.”
Ferguson added that Washington could “either be the next state to get this passed, or we will be the last.”
“I really believe that is the choice before us,” Ferguson said. “I am determined to use the bully pulpit of my office, to use the resources of my office. You’ll be hearing about this all through this year, you’ll hear about it in my state of the state address. We need to get this done.”
Around 75% of school districts in the state have either banned or restricted cellphone usage during the school day, according to a 2025 survey from the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In Spokane County, most school districts have proactively banned cell phones in the classroom.
From catastrophic reactions to reluctant acceptance to an eager embrace, kids felt a range of emotions when their respective districts cracked down on phone use when asked for previous stories on this topic.
Some equated the prohibitions to government overreach limiting their communication with the world outside of their school walls. Some acknowledged a dependency, even addiction, to their devices that made the hours away from their screens agonizing.
Many had positive reactions to phone bans; some kids found it easier to ditch their phones when all their peers and teachers were on board. Several students attributed the phone ban to a boost in their grades or less distraction during class time. Beyond academic implications, students were quick to notice subconscious behavioral adjustments: verbal conversations over lunch replaced silent scrolling, and texts sent across classrooms turned to passing notes.
While exact terms of the governor’s proposal have yet to be determined, Central Valley Superintendent John Parker warned the “devil’s in the details” in an interview Tuesday. His district of 15,000 instituted a districtwide classroom phone ban at the start of this school year. It’s been an overall positive for the district, he said.
“It’s having an impact, not only obviously in the classroom where the kids are not allowed to use them, but also the impact of just the increase in social connection the kids are making,” Parker said. “We’re very pleased.”
Central Valley’s policy is slightly more lenient than the governor’s first pitch of a “bell-to-bell” ban. High schoolers can use their devices during their 30-minute lunch break, but not any other time during the day, including between classes.
Parker advocated for Ferguson to consider the benefits of lunchtime access as he visits schools around the state while drafting his proposal.
“I really welcome a visit to Central Valley so that we can share what’s happening here,” Parker said.
Parker said he would support a statewide restriction because of the positive effects he’s seen in Central Valley. While he said local control is important for school districts generally, consistency is also critical. After implementing Central Valley’s policy, teachers said the uniformity made it easier to enforce phone restrictions. Statewide legislation would send a statement, he said.
“Myself and our board, we very much support the whole concept of having local control. I think that we jumped on it because we felt it was necessary for us. And we like for districts to be able to make those determinations on their own,” Parker said. “The research is definitely compelling in that phone use, distractions, all of that are really impacting learning, so in this case it’s hard to argue against the statewide policy.”
Elena Perry’s work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper’s managing editor.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 11:42 PM.