Saint Paul Public Schools phone policy under Minnesota law, serving ~33,000 students in Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Minnesota required every district and charter to adopt a student cellphone policy by March 15, 2025; many opted for bell-to-bell locally. Enforcement models, costs, and compliance for admi
Saint Paul Public Schools is a public school district headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota (Ramsey County), serving approximately 33,000 students across the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. Like every district in Minnesota, its cell phone rules are shaped by state law — and by how well the policy is actually enforced on each campus.
Does SPPS ban cell phones?
Yes. Minnesota law (SF 3567 (2024)) requires districts to restrict student personal-device use during the school day, so the district must adopt and enforce a written phone policy.
For the full statute, scope, effective date, and primary sources, see our guide to Minnesota's phone-free school law, part of our phone-free school laws by state directory.
Enforcing a phone-free day across Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Minnesota leaves the enforcement method to local districts. The schools that succeed pair the policy with a mechanism that doesn't put the burden on teachers and that produces compliance data when the state asks. At 33,000 students, SPPS's scale is exactly where the enforcement method matters most: a policy that works in one classroom has to work across dozens of campuses at once.
Three enforcement models districts choose from
- • Physical pouches (e.g., Yondr): a per-student cost that recurs as pouches are lost or damaged, plus daily distribution and unlocking logistics multiplied by every campus — and little compliance data.
- • District storage (lockers, caddies, classroom bins): low hardware cost, but it relies on staff to police compliance period after period.
- • Device-level software (LockedIn): OS-level locking, campus geofencing, and automated reporting — deployed identically to every school in the district with no daily logistics.
LockedIn is a software-based phone-free campus solution built for districts like SPPS. It locks student phones at the operating-system level on the devices students already carry, ties enforcement to school hours and campus geofences, and gives administrators a live dashboard plus automated compliance reports — exactly what a Minnesota district needs to show enforcement is real. There's no hardware to ship, lose, or replace across Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Compare the options in our phone-free campus solution comparison or the LockedIn vs. Yondr breakdown, and model the math with our pouch-vs-software cost calculator.
What SPPS schools can do next
Any Saint Paul-area school can go phone-free in under a day with LockedIn. Draft a compliant policy with our free phone-free school policy generator, then contact our team for a district quote. Title I schools in Minnesota may also qualify for subsidized access.
Explore other Minnesota school districts or browse phone-free school coverage by district.