North Dakota School Cell Phone Law (HB 1160): What It Requires

Yes. North Dakota has a statewide law on student phones in school. North Dakota's HB 1160 requires public schools to keep student devices, including smartwatches, silenced, stowed away and inaccessible all school day. The rule runs from the start of the school day until dismissal, including lunch and recess.

What HB 1160 requires

• • Each school district must adopt and implement a policy requiring personal electronic communication devices to be silenced or turned off, securely stowed away and inaccessible to students during instructional time.
• • "Instructional time" runs from the start of the school day until dismissal, including recess, lunch and time between classes.
• • Schools may limit or allow access during school-related activities outside instructional time, such as bus rides, field trips and games.
• • Policies must include enforcement provisions for strict compliance by students and school employees, and let students contact a parent using a school telephone.
• • Schools may not bar a device that a licensed medical provider deems necessary, or that an IEP, Section 504 plan or other required accommodation plan calls for.
• • Districts must collect annual data on the policy's impact, communicate the policy to students and families, and publish it in student and personnel handbooks.

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

The key provision, verbatim

“Requires all personal electronic communication devices be silenced or turned off, securely stowed away, and inaccessible to students during instructional time”

Source: N.D.C.C. § 15.1-07-41(2)(a)

Timeline

1. April 25, 2025Gov. Kelly Armstrong signs HB 1160 at Centennial Elementary in Bismarck
2. May 2, 2025Gov. Armstrong signs SB 2354, which amends the new section before it takes effect
3. August 1, 2025N.D.C.C. § 15.1-07-41 takes effect

Where phones must be kept

Devices must be silenced or turned off, "securely stowed away, and inaccessible to students" from the start of the school day until dismissal; each district chooses the stowing method.

Because North Dakota's law turns on where the phone physically is, software on a student's phone does not by itself satisfy it. App-based locking, including LockedIn, can only add to the storage the law requires, not replace it.

Checklist for North Dakota administrators

1. Confirm your stowing method keeps devices silenced or off, securely stowed and inaccessible from the start of the day through dismissal, including lunch and recess.
2. Make sure the policy covers smartwatches, other wearables and Bluetooth-enabled devices, not just phones.
3. Document medical-provider and IEP, Section 504 or accommodation-plan exemptions.
4. Designate a school telephone students can use to reach a parent or caregiver.
5. Collect the annual impact data the law requires (behavior, mental health, discipline, attendance and academics).
6. Publish the policy in student and personnel handbooks and communicate it to families.