Kirsten Baesler, N.D. Superintendent of Schools, Bismarck

As North Dakota’s State Superintendent for more than a decade, I’ve had thousands of conversations with our teachers, students, and school leaders. I continue to hear — with increasing urgency — that our teachers can’t even teach the basics anymore because student mental health challenges have become so overwhelming.

Each legislative session, we see multiple bills requesting more funding for schools to hire additional counselors, social workers, and psychologists. These are good and necessary requests, but at some point, we must ask: Are we also willing to take steps to prevent the crisis from getting worse? If we’re not prepared to support a policy that will help curtail this epidemic, we shouldn’t keep asking for more resources to handle the consequences. SB2354 and HB1160 give us that opportunity. By limiting personal electronic devices during school hours — with appropriate exceptions — we give students the gift of attention, connection, and presence. We are removing the constant pull of comparison and distraction and replacing it with space to learn and grow.

States like Arkansas and Virginia have taken similar steps, acting on research like Jonathan

Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, which shows how constant smartphone use is rewiring young brains and fueling anxiety and depression.

Even when schools have phone policies, enforcement is inconsistent. That frustrates staff and confuses students.

We often talk about lessening the classroom burdens that our teachers carry. Here’s our chance.

Teachers are meant to teach, not to act as the phone police.

We have laws that protect children’s physical health. Why not their mental health? Health is health — and it’s time our laws reflected that truth.