Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wrote a column recently saying he will introduce, for the second straight year, a bill in the 2027 Legislature to forbid students from using their cellphone during school hours.
There may be a few things about this to debate, but in general Hosemann is on the right track. Cellphones tend to interfere with learning, so their use should be restricted.
The lieutenant governor’s column on the Magnolia Tribune website noted that 42 states limit cellphone use in school. It said three of Mississippi’s neighboring states, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas, refuse to let students use them during the entire school day except for emergencies, disabilities or medical needs.
What’s off track, and what killed the cellphone bill and probably plenty of other reasonable proposals, is the relationship between Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White.
Until those two leaders and Gov. Tate Reeves declare a truce in their Republican battle of wills, useful ideas like requiring school districts to set up policies for student use of cellphones are unlikely to become law.
In this year’s session, Hosemann’s Senate passed the cellphone bill unanimously, but it died in the House without a hearing. Surely House members are aware of the disruption that cellphones can cause during classes, so there had to be another reason for the bill’s quick demise.
There sure was. In this year’s session the House (over a surprising number of Republican objections) passed a private school voucher program that White and the governor strongly supported. But the Senate Education Committee killed the bill with no discussion in a meeting that lasted just one minute.
Say this for legislators: They know how to get even. When the Senate sent a bunch of education bills over to the House, the knives were out. The House Education Committee approved only two of the Senate’s bills — in a meeting that lasted all of five minutes. Among those that died was the bill restricting student cellphone use.
The House vs. Senate Republican spat goes back at least one more year. Hosemann had been noticeably reluctant to eliminate the state income tax for some time, while White and Reeves were big advocates of the idea. But toward the end of the 2025 session, the Senate approved an income-tax bill with incorrect decimals that did almost exactly what the House wanted.
House leaders noticed the Senate’s error but passed the bill anyway, and Reeves signed it into law. The Senate has exacted some revenge, such as that one-minute Education Committee meeting this year where the House’s school voucher bill died. The House has responded by ignoring bills like a cellphone ban.
Hosemann is correct about restricting cellphone use in school. “Every parent wants their child to succeed in school,” he wrote. “Every teacher deserves a classroom where students are engaged. And every student deserves the opportunity to learn without constant digital distractions. Cell phones are valuable tools, but they have a time and a place. The classroom should be reserved for learning.”
In fairness, the House and Senate do work together on a lot of issues, such as the state budget. But it may take a cast change for the hard feelings between the two chambers to subside. That change is coming: Reeves and Hosemann both leave office in January 2028, though Hosemann is considering running for governor next year.
If anything, the issue of cellphone restrictions in school points to the larger problem of lawmakers carrying grudges. When that happens, good ideas sometimes pay the price.
Jack Ryan is editor and publisher of the McComb Enterprise-Journal.
