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Vermont's School Cellphone Ban: What Schools Need to Know for 2026-27
Yes. From the 2026-27 school year, Vermont's Act 72 requires every school board to enforce a policy banning student use of cellphones and other connected personal devices from arrival to dismissal. Schools that do not adopt their own policy are presumed to use the state model policy.
Act 72 (H.480), signed by Governor Phil Scott on 27 June 2025, is codified at 16 V.S.A. section 583. From 2026-27 each school board must adopt, enforce and publish a policy at least as strict as the state model, banning student use of phones and other non-school devices that connect to cellular networks from arrival to dismissal. Exceptions cover health care plans, IEPs, 504 plans, McKinney-Vento duties and limited use an administrator approves.
The Secretary of Education writes the model policy with the Vermont School Boards Association, the Vermont Independent School Association and the Vermont Coalition for Phone and Social Media Free Schools, and reviews it every year. A board that fails to adopt its own policy is presumed to have adopted the latest model. The act also bars schools from using social media to talk to students or requiring accounts for school activities, a first among the states.
The law says nothing about storage, so methods differ. Before the deadline, Harwood Union and Thetford Academy used magnetic locking pouches, Burlington High School used door caddies during class, South Burlington used phone boxes, and Champlain Valley Union moved to envelopes. Maple Run asks for phones off and out of sight. Schools relying on class-time caddies will need a whole-day approach in 2026-27. No state funding was attached.
Whatever Vermont's Act 72 requires, lockable pouches let students keep their own phone, locked, from the first bell to the last, so the school does not collect, store or answer for devices. Before The Internet ships lockable phone pouches and unlocking bases across the United States, including to Vermont, and can print the school's name or crest on them. Schools buy them outright: one price, no subscription, lease or per-student annual licence. Send us your student numbers and any written quote you already have, and we will beat it.
Frequently asked questions
When does Vermont's ban apply?
From the 2026-27 school year. Boards must have a policy at least as strict as the state model; if they do not, the model policy applies by default.
Does it cover lunch and breaks?
The law runs from arrival to dismissal, so the whole school day is covered unless a listed exception applies.
Are there exemptions?
Yes: use required by an individual health care plan, IEP or 504 plan, use needed under the McKinney-Vento Act for homeless students, and limited use approved by an administrator for academic, athletic or cocurricular purposes.
Related reading
School phone bans by US state · Phone-free schools toolkit · Bell-to-bell school phone policy template
Written by the team at Before The Internet, a Toronto-based phone-free company that rents lockable phone pouches for events across North America and sells them to schools and venues worldwide, shipping purchases to any country.
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