Another Bill for Overregulation of Phones in Schools: SB142

NEWS.

The 2025 legislative session is underway. This time, the government creeps further into the parenting realm where it does not belong.

SB142 is the governor’s plan to do away with cell phones and tablets in schools.  Schools must create a policy banning the use of those devices.  Schools must also submit that policy for approval to the Department of Education. 

There is an exception for an “emergency” situation. 

ANALYSIS.

A conservative legislator often does his or her best work when he or she does nothing.  This is an encroachment into the realm of parenting.  No longer can a parent decide if their kid will have a phone and use it at school.  Now, the government has taken that power from parents.

Personally, my kids are home schooled.  However, there is no way I would send them to public school without a phone.  And they better answer it when I call or text.  Who are you, government, to tell me when I can and cannot communicate with my child?

And, just to be nitpicky, that is one jacked up definition of an “emergency.”  The bill defines an emergency as “a serious, unexpected, and dangerous situation that requires immediate action.” 

If the weatherman calls for tornados, and a tornado touches down, then that doesn’t sound “unexpected” to me.  I could go on, but there are a lot of events I could list where a phone call to mom or dad would be desperately needed but does not meet all three qualifiers of serious, unexpected, and dangerous.

Clinton W. Lancaster

Attorney. America First. Sued Hunter Biden for child support. Represented President Trump in the 2020 Wisconsin election challenge. Former attorney for the Wisconsin Special Counsel. An official “Tough Cookie” per President Trump.