Public school districts in Texas are almost one school year into the first statewide cellphone ban, and a North Texas school district is seeing positive impacts.<\/p>\n
Dallas ISD officials said that, district-wide, they have seen a significant increase in library book checkouts, which they largely attribute to students no longer having cellphones with them during the school day.<\/p>\n
“I started hearing, ‘Oh, I’m so bored. I can’t get on my phone after I do my work or during lunchtime,'” Hillcrest High School librarian Nina Canales said. “Once they lock into these stories, they don’t seem to care about their phones at all.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the first day of school to March 31, 2026, the district reported an increase of more than 200,000 additional books checked out compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n
A look at the library checkouts for the previous year:<\/p>\n
2025-2026 Total Circulation (1st day of school to March 31, 2026) \u2013 1,084,8372024-2025 Total circulation (1st day of school to March 31, 2025) \u2013 872,430<\/p>\n
Total library book checkout increase: 24.35%<\/p>\n
At Dallas ISD’s Hillcrest High, students are following this trend.<\/p>\n
Canales said there were roughly 500 books checked out in the first nine weeks of the 2024-2025 school year. This school year, that number spiked to about 1,800 books.<\/p>\n
“That floored me,” Canales said. “I had to re-do the report again because I was like, ‘What, are you kidding me?'”<\/p>\n
Students felt the impact too.<\/p>\n
“Now that I’m busy with a bunch of work and college, I don’t find myself missing my phone that much, even at home,” said Jimenez.<\/p>\n
What is the cell phone ban?<\/p>\n
Passed by the Texas Legislature<\/a> in 2025, HB 1481<\/a> bans public school students from using any personal communication devices, like cellphones, tablets or smart watches.<\/p>\n Lawmakers passed this bill with the goal of keeping students focused during the school day.\u00a0<\/p>\n