In 2024, state lawmakers passed a bill that requires school districts to have regulations on cellphones, laptops and smartwatches during instructional time. This left it up to the districts to put a full ban on the technology.
The plan gives kindergarten through 12th grade schools an additional $378 million over the next two years, but more than a third of that amount will go to the voucher program.
The state will now more closely follow CDC recommendations rather than the strategy it has taken since the beginning of the pandemic.
