By JEFF AMY

ATLANTA (AP) — Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in 2023. Just two years later, more than half of all states have laws in place, with more likely to act soon.

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Bills have sprinted through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma, reflecting a broad consensus that phones are bad for kids.

Connecticut state Rep. Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly’s Education Committee, on May 13 called phones “a cancer on our kids” that are “driving isolation, loneliness, decreasing attention and having major impacts both on social-emotional well-being but also learning.”

Republicans express similar sentiments.

“This is a not just an academic bill,” Republican Rep. Scott Hilton said after Georgia’s bill, which only bans phones in grades K-8, passed in March. “This is a mental health bill. It’s a public safety bill.”

So far, 26 states have passed laws, with eight other states and the District of Columbia implementing rules or making recommendations to local districts. Of the states, 17 have acted this year. Just Tuesday, Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed a law banning phones throughout the school day. Earlier Tuesday, Alaska lawmakers required schools to regulate cellphones when they overrode an education package Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy had vetoed for unrelated reasons.

More action is coming as bills await a governor’s signature or veto in Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and New Hampshire.

Increasing focus on banning phones throughout the school day

When Florida first acted, lawmakers ordered schools to ban phones during instructional time while allowing them between classes or at lunch. But now there’s another bill awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ action that goes further. It would ban phones for the entire school day for elementary and middle schools.

Ten states and the District of Columbia have enacted school day bans, most for students in grades K-12, and they now outnumber the seven states with instructional time bans.

North Dakota Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the ban throughout the school day that he signed into law “a huge win.”

Students react as North Dakota Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong hands a pen to a girl after he signed a bill for a “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban for public school K-12 students on Friday, April 25, 2025, at Centennial Elementary School in Bismarck, N.D. To the right of the governor is first lady Kjersti Armstrong. Republican Sen. Michelle Axtman is at left. Republican Rep. Jim Jonas is at right. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)

“Teachers wanted it. Parents wanted it. Principals wanted it. School boards wanted it,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong recently visited a grade school with such a ban in place. He said he saw kids engaging with each other and laughing at tables during lunch.

The “bell-to-bell” bans have been promoted in part by ExcelinEd, the education think tank founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. The group’s political affiliate has been active in lobbying for bans.

Nathan Hoffman, ExcelinEd’s senior director of state policy and advocacy, said barring phones throughout the day heads off problems outside of class, like when students set up or record fights in halls.

“That’s often when you get some of your biggest behavioral issues, whether they go viral or not,” Hoffman said.

Other states want school districts to set their own rules

But other states, particularly where there are strong traditions of local school control, are mandating only that school districts adopt some kind of cellphone policy, believing districts will take the hint and sharply restrict phone access. In Maine, where some lawmakers originally proposed a school day ban, lawmakers are now considering a rewritten bill that would only require a policy.

And there have been a few states where lawmakers failed to act at all. Maybe the most dramatic was in Wyoming, where senators voted down a bill in January, with some opponents saying teachers or parents should set the rules.

Where policymakers have moved ahead, there’s a growing consensus around exceptions. Most states are letting students use electronic devices to monitor medical needs and meet the terms of their special education plans. Some are allowing exceptions for translation devices if English isn’t a student’s first language or when a teacher wants students to use devices for classwork.

There are some unusual exceptions, too. South Carolina’s original policy allowed an exception for students who are volunteer firefighters. West Virginia’s new law allows smartwatches as long as they are not being used for communication.

Some parents and students oppose the rules

But by far the most high-profile exception has been allowing cellphone use in case of emergencies. One of the most common parent objections to a ban is that they would not be able to contact their child in a crisis like a school shooting.

“It was only through text messages that parents knew what was happening,” said Tinya Brown, whose daughter is a freshman at Apalachee High School, northeast of Atlanta, where a shooting killed two students and two teachers in September. She spoke against Georgia’s law at a news conference in March.

Some laws call for schools to find other ways for parents to communicate with their children at schools, but most lawmakers say they support giving students access to their cellphones, at least after the immediate danger has passed, during an emergency.

In some states, students have testified in favor of regulations, but it’s also clear that many students, especially in high schools, are chafing under the rules. Kaytlin Villescas, a sophomore at Prairieville High School, in the suburbs of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is one student who took up the fight against bans, starting a petition and telling WBRZ-TV in August that Louisiana’s law requiring a school day ban is misguided. She argued that schools should instead teach responsible use.

“It is our proposition that rather than banning cellphone use entirely, schools should impart guidelines on responsible use, thereby building a culture of respect and self-regulation,” Villescas wrote in an online petition.

Most states provide no funding to carry out laws

A few states have provided money for districts to buy lockable phone storage pouches or other storage solutions. New York, for example, plans to spend $13.5 million. But states have typically provided no cash. New Hampshire lawmakers stripped a proposed $1 million from their bill.

“Providing some specific money for this would kind of ease some of those implementation challenges,” Hoffman said. ”That said, most states have not.”

Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; contributed to this report.

Voters in St. Paul’s Ward 4 neighborhoods will choose a new city council member in a special election this August, and the first candidate forum of the campaign season will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Hamline Methodist Church.

The forum, organized by the St. Paul chapter of Unidos Minnesota, a climate action and economic and social justice organization, has invited the three declared candidates to participate. They are nonprofit founder Molly Coleman, former Hamline-Midway Coalition president Cole Hanson and school board member Chauntyll Allen.

Candidates will be given the opportunity to respond to five questions, prepared in advance, on “climate resilience.”

“This year the city council will make big decisions about funding for home upgrades that lower energy bills, negotiating a new contract with our utility company and revising St. Paul’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan,” reads a statement from Unidos St. Paul, which raises concern about “rising energy costs, unaffordable homeowner’s insurance and unhealthy air quality.”

Hamline Methodist Church is located at 1514 Englewood Ave. in St. Paul. Attendees are asked to RSVP in advance at tinyurl.com/UnidosForum2025.

Ward 4 has five neighborhoods — Hamline-Midway, Merriam Park, St. Anthony Park and parts of Macalester-Groveland and Como. Former Ward 4 Council Member Mitra Jalali stepped down from office in February, citing health concerns, and interim Council Member Matt Privratsky was recently appointed by the mayor’s office to fill her role until voters elect a new member to complete the four-year term, which ends in 2028.

The Ward 4 filing period opened Tuesday and runs through June 2. The special election, which will be decided by ranked choice, is Aug. 12.

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It’s easy to explain why maybe the Frost have lost the first game of all four of their PWHL playoff series. Because Minnesota had to scramble late to make the postseason, they never had a top seed.

“We started all these series on the road,” head coach Ken Klee pointed out Wednesday. “It’s very hard to win on the road.”

Klee’s teams have so far rallied to win three of those series, beating Toronto in four games in the first round this season after winning the PWHL’s inaugural Walter Cup in 2024.

Right now, though, they’re just down 1-0 after a 2-1 overtime loss on Tuesday at TD Center. Game 2 of the five-game series is Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m.

“Our group knows we’re a resilient group,” Klee told reporters on a media call Wednesday. “We came here to try to win one game, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

On Phire

Ottawa rookie Gwyneth Phillips continued her torrid postseason on Tuesday, stopping 25 of 26 shots from Minnesota to improve to 4-0-1 with a 1.11 goals-against average and .957 save percentage in the playoffs.

The only goal Phillips allowed on Tuesday came in the third period after she played a puck outside the crease. A backhander by Klára Hymlárová hit the back of the net before Phillips could slide back into position.

Phillips was ready for everything else. That has to change, said Klee, and not just by charging the net and pouncing on rebounds.

“To me, it’s not always about how accurate you shoot but how quick,” he said. “Because goalies are so foundationally solid, when you give them a clear look at the puck, it’s hard to score. We need to get pucks a little quicker on net.”

On the other end, the Charge put only 19 shots on Nicole Hensley, who has been splitting time in net with Maddie Rooney. Klee did not commit Wednesday to a goalie for Thursday night.

“We’re just meeting as a staff now,” he said. “We kind of all just watched the game this morning, and this afternoon we’ll get together with the team and we’ll make all those determinations.”

Mrázová questionable

Charge coach Carla MacLeod said forward Kateřina Mrázová is questionable after getting the bad end of a couple of collisions in Game 1, including a knee-on-knee hit from Britta Curl-Salemme.

“She’s just working with our medical team today to assess everything that transpired in those two hits,” MacLeod said. “As always, it’s just day to day at this point. … She’s still in the assessment phase.”

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