HB1055 Granting the state board of education rulemaking authority relative to student use of cell phones and personal communication devices in schools.
Granting the state board of education rulemaking authority relative to student use of cell phones and personal communication devices in schools.
Impact Score — How Does This Bill Affect You?
Overall Impact Score
Concerning
Scale: 1 (harmful) to 10 (beneficial)
Your Wallet
No direct fiscal impact to taxpayers or families is specified in the bill.
Your Community
Local school boards retain policy adoption authority but must align with state rules, reducing local flexibility to set device policies tailored to their communities' needs.
Your Freedom
Student device use is restricted during instructional time, and policy authority shifts from locally-elected boards to state-level governance, reducing local control over school conduct rules.
Status
Inexpedient to Legislate: Motion Adopted Voice Vote 02/12/2026 House Journal 4 P. 2
Sponsor
Melissa Litchfield (R)
The Short Version
This bill grants the state board of education authority to adopt statewide rules governing student cell phone use in schools. It requires school districts to prohibit personal device use during instructional time, with exceptions for medical needs, disabilities, and language support—shifting policy-setting from local school boards to state-level rulemaking.
Who's Behind This Bill?
Who Benefits
- ▲ Students with medical devices (insulin pumps, glucose sensors) and documented disabilities—explicit protections for device use are mandated
- ▲ Emergent multilingual students—language access device use is protected
- ▲ State board of education—gains new rulemaking authority
Who Pays the Price
- ▼ Local school boards—lose exclusive authority to set cell phone policies and must implement state rules
- ▼ Students without documented medical or disability needs—prohibited from personal device use during instructional time
- ▼ Schools with different community preferences—required to follow uniform state rules rather than locally-tailored policies
Bill statuses as of October 7, 2026. Check LegiScan or NH General Court for the latest.
This bill was auto-scored using AI analysis of the bill text and legislative data. Scores may be refined as we review more bills.