Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Distraction-Free Schools: Governor Hochul Announces New York to Become Largest State in the Nation with Statewide, Bell-to-Bell Restrictions on Smartphones in Schools

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York is becoming the largest state in the nation to require statewide, bell-to-bell restrictions on smartphones in K-12 schools. The Governor secured this landmark victory as part of the agreement on the FY 2026 State Budget. Following this agreement and enactment of the FY 2026 State Budget, New York State’s distraction-free schools policy will take effect this fall for the 2025-2026 school year. Today’s announcement builds on Governor Hochul’s nation-leading commitment to protecting youth mental health and promoting student success in the digital age, following her action last year to secure and sign a first-in-the-nation law to restrict addictive social media feeds for minors.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will have photos of the event available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Here we are at last. It's Teacher Appreciation Day – anyone know that? Anyone appreciate our teachers? Yes, and what better way to show our gratitude than making history together? And today I am here to announce the history part. New York is now the largest state in the nation with a K through 12 bell-to-bell cellphone ban because of all of you.

And I want to thank some extraordinary leaders, someone who has led this organization, NYSUT, not for a long time, but her impact has been profound. And she was unrelenting in this cause. You know when people try to tell us we can't do it, it's too much – leave it to the school districts, they'll know what to do. They could have done it all along. Melinda Person was the warrior I needed at my side. Let's give her another round of applause – our President of NYSUT.

Muna Heaven, Mothers Against Media Addiction, the Harlem Chapter – thank you so much for all your – you're going to be speaking in a couple moments. Thank you, Muna. Thank you for being a champion helping us take this message all through the state. Anika Bhupati is going to be our eighth grade speaker from Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland, who's going to tell you what it's like to be an eighth grader. Who wants to be an eighth grader again? She's the brave one. She's an eighth grader. And Raj Goyle, who's the Founder of Phone Free New York, will be joining us as well.

I've been talking about this for a while. Raised it last year, was told we needed some time to socialize it. I was ready at hello. Yes, let's just do this, but we needed to take it on the road. And I went around the state, all over the state, North Country to Long Island gathering teachers and students and administrators and principals and superintendents and the PTA and anybody who would sit down with me and hear from them about what the impact of cellphones in schools has been doing to our children. I didn't hear anything good. It was all negative from the students on up. And when we said we could do this statewide – no other state has gone as far as we have – maybe we could just water it down a little bit, or maybe just during a couple classes you'd do it. And you know what? That wasn't good enough for us, right? Like we knew that you had that distraction, that temptation sitting in their pocket that you could whip out during lunch or study hall. They would never even talk to another student during study hall or lunch. So it defeated the purpose of giving children and students their childhood back.

But there were those who were opposed. They said it couldn't be done. They tried to spread misleading information about this, but they sure as heck didn't know who they're messing with because I had 700,000 members of NYSUT on my side and many other supporters, as I said, the PTA and others, and we got it done.

Now, say this, does anybody know I'm not a mom? I say it every single day. I've been a mom longer than I've been a Governor. And I'm hardwired to protect kids – my own and yours – and I never back down when it comes to what's good for our children, because your family is my fight. I've been saying this since day one, and it still continues. And it always will be.

So listening to these students asking for adults to intercede. I was so struck when I met a student not far from here. I've told her story all over the state. We're in a library gathered around in a circle, and I'm just hearing the stories, what it's like. The pressure on these kids was immense, especially the girls who are so subjected to pressures about how they look, where they wear their makeup, were they wearing weird shoes or what their dress looks like or their clothes, and were they being excluded from the meeting that was going on in the girls’ room at that moment? Were they not being invited to a party? They had all this on their minds when they're supposed to be paying attention in a classroom. Even they knew it was too much – their parents never had to endure this. We didn't have this going on.

And I also heard from teachers who said, “We just can't compete anymore. We just can't compete with the screens. And we're losing the battle of connecting with our students.” All they want to do, starting in September, they want to develop a relationship with them, but the kids are just staring into their hand the entire class time, not absorbing a lot.

And I heard from parents who are saying their kids are becoming more anxious and withdrawn. One mother told me a horrible story. I was up in the North Country and she said that she and her husband take shifts, making sure one of them is home when their son arrives at the end of the school day because he's so bullied during the day on his cellphone by others, he comes home in a state of depression. They don't know that he won't do something drastic, all because of that constant bombardment of negativity that this child was feeling. And it didn't have to be that way, and it wasn't that way before.

So our kids are overwhelmed by the addiction, the addictive algorithms and endless distractions. Ninety-five percent of teenagers have smartphones. They receive 250 notifications a day on average. They can't possibly focus on anything else. They're so afraid of missing something. You know what FOMO is? I get FOMO sometimes. I know what it's like. But it's on steroids for our kids because there'll be a social outcast if they're not included or something, and they're not always paying attention to this. I don't know how anyone could focus with that disruption.

So we took it to the Legislature. I did all my work. We had a lot of rallies back in September and events with Melinda and so many others, gathered teachers there. We kept this constant drumbeat moving forward.

And we get to the Legislature, and we're hearing opposition from some school districts who say, “Leave it up to us,” and even some agencies; people telling us not to do what I knew we had to do, trying to make it difficult or “Can we compromise? Can we have a part of the day? Or just really during the classes and trust the kids.” When that young woman said, “You have to save us from ourselves,” I knew she really meant it, and that's exactly what I said we're going to do.

So we knew we couldn't do half measures – wouldn't cut it for me. I'm never a halfway person. But also our kids needed us to be bold. Our teachers needed us to be decisive. And that's exactly what we did. And we stood firm for this.

We'll have no cellphones in a child's hand from the moment they enter school until they leave. No more memes instead of math. And so they're now going to be focused. And people say, “Why is this so important to you?” Because I think there should be laughter in the hallways again, I think there should be human voices that you hear in gym class. I want our kids to make eye to eye contact again. I want them to enjoy the experience of real human connection, not just through a screen.

And especially with this rise in AI bots – are you reading about this? Where they can have artificial intelligence create a friend for them? Did you read the articles about how they turn into more than just friends? Into very inappropriate conversations and activities? And we want our teachers to feel liberated to teach again. That's what I want. I want the laughter, I want the teachers to do what they can do, I want the kids to be free. So we needed to find a place where kids can learn and just be kids again.

And I will say this, our kids’ mental health matters. And I’m not going to let anyone – any company, any social media company, tech company – think that they can own our kids’ minds and their mental health, because that's what's been happening. And that's why last year, we took such bold action once again, and telling these companies, “You cannot bombard our kids with your algorithms unless they've asked for that information, no more.”

We stood up and the rest of the country paid attention because they couldn’t even do it in California. No other state can do what we're doing here because we stand up for our kids and we fight. And in that fight I also want to thank our educators. You are on the front lines every second. So, we got our kids back, starting in September. School districts get ready.

And anybody who’s not sure they want to do this, go talk to a superintendent like David Blanchard. David, stand up. David Blanchard, Superintendent of Schoharie. He has been my hero because he is the one who answered all my questions when I first met with him and said, “How did you do this?” Because they did it in Schoharie and never looked back.

He said it was tough in the beginning, little bit of resistance, probably a lot of resistance. But you know what? Resistance – but when you're in pursuit of a just cause you can be overcome, you must overcome it. And that's exactly what you did in Schoharie. You paved the way for other school districts to see how it can be done, and your children are thriving, and they're connecting and they'll emerge from school fully functioning adults who know how to communicate.

So for future employers and others, this is the next generation of leaders in New York State, and I'm looking forward to the fact that this generation will be the very last one in our state that everyone knew you could have cellphones in schools. Alright, thank you very much.

My great champion and partner, Melinda Person. Melinda Person, join us up here and tell us what it was like to be on the front lines because you did an extraordinary job. So proud of you, Melinda.