Georgia high school sophomores are looking ever more likely to lose their phones during the school day in their senior year, as lawmakers consider expanding a ban on personal devices.

New surveys suggest overwhelming support for the idea from parents and teachers. A ban from kindergarten through middle school takes effect next fall after state lawmakers passed it last year.

Now, the author of that law has legislation that would extend the ban to high schools starting in fall 2027.

Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, said he expects House Bill 1009 to get a first hearing in a couple of weeks.

Hilton said he had heard universal support from parents and teachers about his K-8 ban. Although the prohibition will not be enforced statewide until the fall, many schools have voluntarily banned phones ahead of schedule. He said he expects an expansion to high school to be similarly popular, with some caveats about logistics for older students.

“The concerns I’ve heard thus far are more around scheduling, you know, after school activities, things like that,” Hilton said.

New surveys indicate broad support for phone-free schools.

More than two-thirds of the roughly 3,000 administrators, teachers and other educators surveyed in 176 school districts by Georgia’s largest teacher association liked the idea, according to results out this week. High school teachers were even more enthusiastic, with 83% calling for a cellphone ban.

“Why do they want these bans? Because they believe that phones are very disruptive,” said Margaret Ciccarelli, director of legislative services for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, which surveyed its members last fall.

Similarly, a survey released this week by the Emory Center for Child Health Policy found 71% of responding Georgia parents want the K-8 cellphone ban extended to high schools.

Their answers in the survey, also taken last fall, indicate that they believe a ban would lead to more learning and social interaction and would improve mental health.

The 29% of parents who opposed a high school ban were mostly concerned about being disconnected from their child during a school emergency.

“Parents’ concerns about emergency access are valid and understandable. However, effective cellphone policies can address this by establishing rapid parent notification systems and guaranteed access to phones when needed,” Julie Gazmararian, professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, wrote in a report about the survey. “Strong support for high school cellphone bans among parents suggests broad public readiness for policy action.”

Safety experts have testified at the Capitol that a phone in a student’s hand during an emergency can be a dangerous distraction from safety instructions given by teachers and emergency responders.

But Layla Contreras, 24, said people who think high school students do not need their phone in an emergency have never lived through one.

Her sister, Sasha, is a senior at Apalachee High School in Barrow County and texted her when a gunman entered the school in September 2024, killing four.

Contreras said her sister, 17, texted her to tell her the emergency was real — and that she loved her.

Layla Contreras added that the school was locked down again last week after a false alarm. Sasha texted her that time to relay the news, too.

Layla Contreras said high school students need their phones in an emergency and should be taught how to use them responsibly the rest of the time.

“We need to teach our kids more discipline and more responsibility rather than just taking it away, because when they enter the workforce,” she said, “they’re not going to take away their phones.”

The ban expansion has high-powered support. House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said in early January that he expected a “lively discussion” about banning cellphones in high school, acknowledging the competing views of those who see devices as a liability on regular school days versus those who see them as an asset during a crisis.

“Some of that communication certainly is good for the parent to understand that the child is safe,” Burns said, “but it also interferes with the safety protocols in the schools.”

On the Senate side, a bipartisan study committee empaneled by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican, recommended a ban on cellphones in high schools.

And in a hearing last week, Richard Woods, the state superintendent of schools, asked lawmakers for such a ban. The Republican elected official said his teacher and student advisory councils, the latter including a student shot at Apalachee High, rank mental health as the top concern for students.

Studies show the negative academic impact and emotional strain of screen time, Woods said. “This is both an academic and a mental health issue.”

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.