Utah School Cell Phone Law (SB 69): What It Requires

Yes. Utah has a statewide law on student phones in school. Utah's SB 69 makes bell-to-bell the default from July 1, 2026: no student phone or smartwatch use at school from first bell to dismissal. Lunch and recess are included unless an exception applies, and LEAs may allow other circumstances.

What SB 69 requires

• • Students may not use a cellphone, smart watch or emerging technology at a school during school hours unless an exception applies
• • Each LEA must allow use to respond to an imminent health or safety threat or a school-wide emergency, to use the SafeUT Crisis Line, for an IEP or Section 504 plan, and for medical necessity
• • Each LEA must let a parent request an accommodation for brief use in a school-designated area during non-instructional time
• • An LEA may allow other circumstances for use during the school day, or set stricter limits and extend them to school-supervised activities

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

The key provision, verbatim

“a student may not use a cellphone, smart watch, or emerging technology at a school during school hours. … "School hours" means the time from the beginning of the school day … until the end of the school day … including all instructional time, lunch periods, recess, and transition times between classes.”

Source: Utah Code § 53G-7-227(1)(c), (2), as amended by SB 69 (2026)

Timeline

1. March 25, 2025Gov. Spencer Cox signs SB 178: no device use during classroom hours by default
2. March 18, 2026Gov. Cox signs SB 69, moving the default to the full school day
3. July 1, 2026SB 69 takes effect

Where phones must be kept

§ 53G-7-227 bars students from using devices during school hours; it does not say where devices must be kept.

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 69 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 Utah administrators

1. Update your LEA policy so the default covers the full school day, including lunch, recess and transitions
2. Write in the five required exceptions: safety threat, school-wide emergency, SafeUT, IEP/504 and medical necessity
3. Set up the parent-request process and a designated area for brief use during non-instructional time
4. Decide whether to allow any other circumstances, or to extend limits to school-supervised activities
5. Choose a storage approach, which the statute leaves to the LEA

How Utah districts are carrying it out

The law sets the floor; each district writes its own policy on top of it. Here is what large Utah districts have adopted, from their own published policies:

• • Davis School District: Phones stay put away all day in elementary schools; junior high and high school students may use them between classes and at lunch (Policy 5S-105).
• • Granite School District: Granite School District, in Salt Lake County, reported 59,106 students in 2024-25, according to federal data.