Governor Murphy wants to give $3 million to school districts to help them enforce bans on cell phones in classrooms.

The governor visited Woodbury Junior Senior High School in Gloucester today, where he promoted his support for phone free schools, which he first highlighted during his 2025 State of the State address.

The legislation would require all school districts in New Jersey to adopt policies restricting the use of cell phones and K-through-12 classrooms.

Woodbury Junior-Senior High School implemented its own policy at the beginning of the 2024 25 school year, where students cell phones are locked away until the final school bell.

During his visit, Governor Murphy spoke with educators about how the new policy would help to limit classroom distractions and create healthier learning environments.

You've got a mental health crisis that among youth that was only exacerbated with the pandemic.

I've seen it with our four kids in terms of how much they're on on phones.

It's probably contributing to stress and mental health challenges in a school setting.

It's taking too much attention away from why the kids are there in the first place.

And if we can envision reversing that, bending that curve in the right direction, you could see huge positive impacts, less stress, less mental health challenges, better performance, academically, better social skills, etc..