(Radio Iowa) – As the 2025 school year gets underway, each of Iowa’s public school district must enforce a new state law that calls for restricting students’ access to cell phones while they’re in class. “Schools have had policies related to cell phones and other technology for many years,” said Matt Carver, legal services director of the School Administrators of Iowa, “but this is probably the most significant legislative change that will be impacting those policies.”

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The Iowa Department of Education’s website posted a model policy on its website this spring, as well as recommendations for school districts that have not had cell phone limitations before this school year. Carver said he fielded questions from administrators about when exceptions may be allowed. “There are very specific exceptions that of course need to be made not only under Iowa law, but federal law relating to students with disabilities,” Carver said. “…Also, while it’s not required, schools are permitted as well to have an exception for English learners, so those students may have an exception, potentially, to have an exception in the classroom if it’s beneficial in their learning process.”

There’s another exception that would give teachers some authority to incorporate cell phone use in their lesson plans. “Let’s say they’re teaching students about A.I. or they’re doing something else that is key to the work that they’re doing in the classroom,” he said, “perhaps it’s doing research and they want the students not just to use their laptops, but perhaps to use their phones for research.”

In January, Governor Kim Reynolds called on legislators to pass a policy for all public schools that would reduce the distraction of cell phones during instructional time. She signed the law at the end of April, so school boards had over three months to adopt guidelines. Sixteen states have an outright ban on cell phone use during the entire school day. Iowa and six other states have laws that restrict cell phone use during class time, although Iowa’s law lets school districts adopt stricter policies.