Sen. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, speaks on the South Dakota Senate floor on Jan. 21, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE — A bill to ban cellphone use by public school students during the day narrowly failed in a South Dakota House of Representatives committee Monday.
The Education Committee voted 8-7 to defeat Senate Bill 198. The bill passed the state Senate 19-15 on Feb. 17.
Cellphone use policies should be in the hands of local school boards, opponents argued.
One-third of SD school districts remove or lock away student phones
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, had the support of the South Dakota Education Association.
“While most school districts do have a cell phone policy, teachers will tell you that enforcement is one of the issues,” the association’s Sandra Waltman told committee members.
Opposition came from the state Department of Education and representatives from large and small school districts.
Lindsay Fathke, K-12 principal at the Avon School District, said her school requires students to put their phones away in their lockers throughout the day. Students have to ask Fathke for permission to use their phones, and must do so under her supervision.
“Our locally developed expectations that are consistently enforced are working,” Fathke said. “This kind of effective, local decision making is effective, and should remain in the hands of the school.”
According to a South Dakota Searchlight survey last year, about 60% of districts do not allow cellphones for at least part of the school day. In some schools, students can keep the devices in their backpacks or lockers. About a third of districts remove or lock away high school students’ cellphones for at least part of the school day.
