New York Schools Can Ban Phones Without Spending a Cent — No Need for $13.5M! Just Implement the Change!

Disappointing: Governor Kathy Hochul is proposing that $13.5 million be allocated to assist schools in enforcing a cellphone ban.

Even more disappointing: City schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos labels the proposed assistance as “insufficient,” despite the fact that nearly half of New York City’s public schools have already implemented such bans.

Why must it come at a cost?

Instruct students to keep their phones stored in lockers, turned off in their bags, or left at home. If a student violates these rules, enforce discipline appropriately.

There’s no need for expensive solutions like fancy Yondr bags or to create an entirely new administrative system in every school, or whatever it is Aviles-Ramos envisions requiring vast sums of money.

Indeed, it is essential to maintain basic discipline and order: Perhaps the chancellor could specify which schools are currently unable to enforce this and her strategy for restoring order?

Without proper enforcement, after all, no amount of funding will make the ban effective — or the school itself functional.

Maybe state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa would like to commemorate her remarkable $150,000 salary increase (now $464,000 annually, nearly double the governor’s pay) by addressing all of this.

New York currently spends over $36,000 for each public-school student, but it’s glaringly clear that most of that funding is not being utilized to provide students with a quality education.