California
CurrentPhone-Free School Act (AB 3216)
Districts, county offices and charter schools must limit or prohibit smartphone use; local policy determines the restriction.
- Jurisdiction
- California · State / DC
- Policy status
- Effective
- Implementation phase
- Current
- Requirement
- Required with local discretion
- Grades
- All K-12
- Audience
- Students
- Learning evidence
- No student-learning claim
- Instrument
- Statute / enacted law
Dates & implementation
Adopted / approved
Sep 23, 2024
Policy deadline July 1, 2026; review at least every five years.
A legal effective date can precede school implementation. This record documents policy intent or requirements; it does not independently confirm delivery in every classroom.
Exceptions & instructional scope
Emergencies or danger, staff permission, physician determination and IEP needs.
Funding & support
Funding details not confirmed
Dedicated funding and current award availability are not established in this collection. This does not mean no funding exists.
Evidence & source location
AB3216, Education Code §48901.7
State law requires local policy but does not prescribe one uniform storage model.
Review history
Reviewed against official sources
Source availability checked Oct 4, 2026: Source reopened. This is separate from verification of the policy claim below.
Source review date recorded in database: 2026-10-03
2026-10-03 — Carried forward from the source-linked baseline; topic, grade and evidence-type inventory reviewed. Individual source was not re-opened in this update. 2026-10-04 — Substantive source review: Reconciled the existing October 3 substantive personal-device audit (Text reviewed) with the research record. The audited model, timing and exceptions replace the unchecked baseline description. This reconciliation is not a new source reopening.
Record ID: CA-2024-DEVICE-001
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