UNPLUGGED Schools Grant Act of 2026

To qualify for a grant, a state education agency must have a policy developed with local agencies and in consultation with educators, parents, and students that prohibits students from possessing or using personal electronic devices at public elementary and secondary schools during school hours. The policy must allow exceptions for documented medical needs and disabilities or special needs; it may allow individualized exceptions for certain English learners and other students the state agency deems appropriate.

The Education Department would award grants to state education agencies whose applications meet the bill’s requirements. States would use the grants to develop and enforce device-policy procedures and obtain secure storage for devices at public elementary and secondary schools.

Grant applications must certify that schools and local agencies may make arrangements for parents to relay pickup-time changes and other logistical issues through school personnel. They must also be able to communicate with parents and local emergency responders about time-sensitive matters.

The Education Department would distribute funds among eligible states based on each state’s share of the prior year’s Title I, Part A, Subpart 2 funding, with a minimum allotment for each state that receives a grant. Funds assigned to a state that does not receive an allotment would be redistributed to other states.

States, local agencies, and schools could keep or adopt rules that restrict student device possession or use more than the grant program’s required policy. School-authorized laptops and tablets used only for instruction and blocked from specified nonacademic uses are excluded from the bill’s definition of personal electronic devices.