Keeping kids focused more on classroom work by removing the devices that often distract them.

That's the goal of a bill moving ahead in the state Capitol.

Students in Kentucky could be banned from having their phones out during the school day.

If a measure advanced by a legislative panel becomes law.

WKYT's McKenzie Spink has more.

Members of the House Committee on Primary and Secondary Education seem to agree.

The use of cell phones in schools is hindering student learning.

I toured a high school a few months ago, and students were just blatantly wearing big headphones and listening to music, and they're not learning then.

Proponents hope House Bill 208 will help solve this issue by requiring every school district to ban student use of cell phones during the school day in 2024.

We spoke to teachers and administrators in two Kentucky schools that have already banned cell phones.

Both schools felt that their ban was successful.

It is a game changer.

There is no other way to put it.

It has made students much more engaged.

I would say it has improved our discussions tenfold.

I will say one of the biggest things that I've seen is we've actually had a decrease in behavior because of this.

I think it's eight hours west time where kids can communicate via social media.

And so much drama stirred up on social media that if you remove that, well, now you've taken away some of the behaviors in the classrooms.

Staff at these schools also told us that the main concerns they heard from parents were about school safety.

A concern echoed by representative Adrianna Campbell in in the event of an emergency, how what is the process to make sure that access to the internet, to adults, to emergency personnel is open?

Like, what does that look like?

So currently, every classroom already has a phone in it that, the teacher has access to.

Going further than that, that's going to be left up to the districts to implement that.

We as these policies have been rolled out in different states across the country.

You know, some people have just a plastic device where students will put their phones in.

So obviously there would be quick access to that.

The discussion turned personal, as Representative Campbell shared why she believes students need to be able to talk to their families during a crisis.

I had two kids on the same campus, one in middle school, one in high school.

There was a bomb threat in and, a threat of an active shooter at both campuses, around the same campus, same time.

I appreciated my kids telling me once, telling me there's a bomb threat.

The other one is telling me that we're in a lockdown due to concerns with an active shooter.

And I love you, mom.

And I want to make sure that we have the opportunity to hear from our children.

That was the that was the reason for my question.

Representative David Hale also brought up a personal concern regarding students with disabilities.

I unfortunately, I have two grandchildren that have type one diabetes and on their phones today, the technology they on those devices monitor their sugar count which is in kids is erratic up and down.

And I just wanted to make sure that this would be exempt.

They would be exempt to, to carry those with them at all times.

Bill's sponsor, representative Josh Bray, confirmed that students with devices authorized for use with a disability would be exempt from this measure.

Representative Bray sponsored a similar bill last year.

It passed committee unanimously, but ultimately did not succeed.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Mackenzie Spink.

Thank you.

Mackenzie.

House Bill 342 also passed unanimously out of the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee today.

It would require all high school students to take a one credit financial literacy class in order to graduate.

It now heads to the House floor.