North Dakota receives a grade ‘A’ for school cellphone ban policy

NORTH DAKOTA (KVRR) — North Dakota has been awarded a grade of “A” for its statewide law banning the use of cellphones in schools.

The grade comes from the Phone-Free Schools State Report Card, which has ranked all fifty states in the nation for phone-free schools.

The report ranks North Dakota as the leading state in the nation, after the cellphone ban took effect in schools in the fall of 2025.

Devices must be stored from “bell-to-bell”, meaning devices cannot be used during class, passing time or at lunch.

Twenty-six states have enacted such laws.

“40,000 teachers found that the stricter the policy and the longer kids can not access their phones, the happier the teacher. And we also know that parents who have students in schools with bell-to-bell policies, 91% of those parents are in favor of that policy,” said Lina Nealon, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Report Card project lead at the Institute for Families and Technology.

This Report Card is the first comprehensive assessment of how laws or executive orders in every state and Washington, D.C., measure up.