Federal study and grants test phone-free schools with strong parental input
H.R. 1275 — Focus on Learning Act · Filed by Bruce Westerman (R-AR) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 12, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Surgeon General to study how mobile devices affect student learning, mental health, and behavior in schools over two years, and establishes a $5 million pilot program awarding grants to school districts to purchase secure containers and lockers so students store phones during school hours. Schools participating must notify parents 30 days before applying, allow exemptions for health monitoring and students with disabilities, and maintain staff communication systems and student-parent contact methods.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a federally-funded research study paired with a voluntary school pilot program to test device-free learning environments. It is a public health investigation tool, not a mandate or restriction on private conduct.
What the text implies
- Pilot program success may create political pressure for mandatory device bans in schools, shifting from voluntary to coercive policy without further legislative debate.
- Study design and data collection methodology are not specified in the bill; Surgeon General has discretion over what constitutes 'helpful information,' potentially biasing results toward predetermined conclusions.
- Exemptions for English learners using devices for translation may create equity gaps if schools interpret the exemption narrowly, disadvantaging multilingual students in device-free environments.
- Schools must maintain staff communication systems and student-parent contact methods, but the bill does not specify funding for alternative communication infrastructure, potentially shifting costs to districts.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill funds voluntary school participation in a phone-restriction pilot with strong parental notification and exemptions for health/disability needs, generating evidence on whether device-free instruction improves learning and mental health. Citizens benefit from federally-funded research on a widespread concern and schools gain resources to test a policy many parents support, with no mandate imposed on unwilling districts.
Who stands to gain
- school districts (grant recipients for container/locker purchases)
- secure container and locker manufacturers
Named in the bill
Surgeon General, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Education, local educational agencies, elementary schools, secondary schools, students with disabilities, English learners
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Feb 12, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 12, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $90,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 16 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Bruce Westerman, the sponsor, reported $1,146,425 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Internet Works — $90,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,470 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Federal study and grants test phone-free schools with strong parental input” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1275 Report an error
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