New Mexico School Cell Phone Law (SB 11): What It Requires

Yes. New Mexico has a statewide law on student phones in school. New Mexico's SB 11 required every school district and charter school to adopt, implement and publish a device policy by Aug. 1, 2025. It does not require a ban: a policy may prohibit use during instructional hours, but may not block assistive technology or medically necessary, disability or IEP use.

What SB 11 requires

• • By Aug. 1, 2025, each school district and charter school had to adopt and implement a wireless communication device policy.
• • The Public Education Department must issue guidelines on minimum requirements; under the law a policy may prohibit use during instructional hours, allow teacher-approved educational use, allow emergency and health-care use, protect privacy, allow use outside instructional hours and set consequences.
• • A policy may not prohibit assistive technology such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text, or device use that is a medical necessity, a disability accommodation or part of an IEP.
• • Each district and charter school must publish its policy on its website.

The emergency wording for every state, D.C. and Puerto Rico is in school phone ban emergency exceptions by state.

The key provision, verbatim

“No later than August 1, 2025, each school district and charter school shall adopt and implement a wireless communication device policy.”

Source: SB 11, § 1(B)

Timeline

1. March 1, 2025Senate passes SB 11, 29–8
2. March 20, 2025House passes SB 11 as amended, 59–4
3. April 10, 2025Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs SB 11 (Laws 2025, ch. 155)
4. August 1, 2025Deadline for districts and charter schools to adopt and implement their policies
5. February 15, 2026Senate passes SB 23 (2026), a school-day device ban for every district and charter school, 32–6
6. February 16, 2026SB 23 is sent to the House Education Committee, where it dies when the 30-day session ends

Where phones must be kept

SB 11 does not address where devices are kept; storage, like whether to prohibit use at all, is set in each district or charter policy.

Some schools back a written policy with phone-management software such as LockedIn: students' own phones lock automatically on campus during school hours and unlock after school, with no pouches or hardware; the admin dashboard flags workarounds by student name, such as a possible uninstall or a new device awaiting approval; and in an emergency, one tap from an administrator starts Emergency Mode on every phone on campus. Software does not replace the policy SB 11 requires, and it should be set up around the exceptions the law lists; have counsel review any tool that handles student device data.

Checklist for New Mexico administrators

1. Confirm your policy is adopted, implemented and posted on your website (deadline was Aug. 1, 2025).
2. Check that the policy does not block assistive technology or medically necessary, disability or IEP device use.
3. Decide explicitly whether the policy prohibits use during instructional hours; the law allows it but does not require it.
4. Check the Public Education Department for the minimum-requirement guidelines SB 11 directs it to issue, and compare your policy against them.

How New Mexico districts are carrying it out

The law sets the floor; each district writes its own policy on top of it. Here is what one large New Mexico district has adopted, from its own published policy:

• • Albuquerque Public Schools: Devices may come to school but stay out of sight and off or silenced all day; high schoolers may use them at lunch where the school allows.