Youngkin sides with parents and clears way for cellphone-free schools

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), mining his pro-parent playbook that helped him win in 2021, on Tuesday set the stage for a classroom ban on cellphones.

In leapfrogging over county school boards struggling with the issue, Youngkin’s new executive order will establish a model for banning cell phones from classrooms commonwealth-wide while still giving school boards the power to build their own plan.

“This essential action will promote a healthier and more focused educational environment where every child is free to learn,” the Republican governor said.

He is joining a handful of other states and some Virginia counties in clearing classrooms of student distractions as teachers play catch-up from educational losses suffered during the COVID-19 shutdowns.

In taking an action favored by many parents, he is also showing the value of focusing policy on children and improving education to national leaders and maybe former President Donald Trump, who is still mulling who to pick as his running mate before next week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Youngkin’s popularity and politics have helped to steer Virginia to the right and back into purple state territory, giving Trump a chance to win the commonwealth. Former President George W. Bush was the last Republican to win Virginia, and that was 20 years ago in 2004.

Youngkin pulled off a surprise win in 2021 against former liberal Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe by focusing on schools and parent’s rights, especially in northern Virginia’s Loudoun County.

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That county just imposed a new cell-free rule that will begin this fall.

Youngkin’s plan is to settle on a model for counties to follow. Counties will be urged to set “age appropriate” rules, such as banning the portable phones in elementary schools but allowing them in the lockers of high schoolers.