EDUC-WIRELESS COMM DEV POLICY

Amends the School Code. Provides that on or before the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year, each school board and charter school shall adopt and implement a wireless communication device policy. Establishes exceptions for the use of a wireless communication device during school time. Prohibits a school district or charter school from enforcing the wireless communication device policy through fees, fines, suspensions, expulsions, or the deployment of a school resource officer or local law enforcement officer. Sets forth how the policy shall be developed. Requires each school district and charter school to ensure all school personnel and substitute teachers are informed of the tenets of the policy, the roles and responsibilities of staff members, the importance of uniform enforcement, and the handling of implementation in a trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate manner. Provides that a school board and any school personnel, including charter school personnel, shall be immune from any liability resulting from damage to a wireless communication device when the device is stored in good faith and in accordance with the school board's wireless communication device policy. Provides that the wireless communication device policy shall be posted on the school district's or charter school's existing, publicly accessible Internet website and included in the student handbook. Requires, by September 1, 2026, the State Board of Education to post on its website a template for a model wireless communication device policy. Provides that if a school district or charter school has an existing wireless communication device policy in place before the effective date of the amendatory Act that limits wireless communication devices during a majority of or the entirety of the school day, the district or charter school may keep its existing policy in place until the 2030-2031 school year, at which point the district or charter school must adopt a wireless communication device policy meeting the requirements the amendatory Act. Makes other and conforming changes. Effective immediately.