Pennsylvania
Inside the legislative effort to expel cellphones from Pa.’s K-12 schools
The case against a complete ban
There’s limited research available to date regarding the efficacy of school cellphone bans. Some studies, like one from 2024 at Auburn University, suggest such a policy could improve student engagement and social interactions with some limitations.
However, researchers at the University of Birmingham could not find much of a difference in academic and social outcomes between students who attended schools with cellphone bans and those who attended schools that did not.
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington said in an interview with Philadelphia Magazine in August that he believes the decision is best made by each school.
“There are parents who feel very strongly that they need to be able to reach their children at all times, and there are others who feel the complete opposite,” Watlington told the magazine. “Cellphones can certainly be a distraction, but they can also be a walking library in the classroom.”
Some parents critical of legislative-level cellphone bans also highlight the need to reach their children in an era of school shootings and mass violence.
Santarsiero argued that cellphones, in those instances, may do more harm than good. Some school safety experts might agree.
Santarsiero recalled a time when he was a teacher where an armed robbery several blocks away prompted a lockdown at the school. Unaware of the robbery, he locked the classroom door, gathered his students to the corner of the room, away from the windows, and waited for instructions.
“We did that, and for the next hour and a half, before the incident was resolved, the kids started going on their phones, and they were texting home and really spreading a lot of rumors that turned out not to be true: that there was an armed shooter roaming the halls, that we were in imminent danger. And this was now filtering out to parents,” he said. “It was filtering out to other students, and it was creating a level of anxiety that was not helpful to trying to manage the situation.”
Pennsylvania School Boards Association, or PSBA, opposes Senate Bill 1014.
“While PSBA supports the goal of fostering learning-focused environments, the proposed legislation imposes a statewide, mandatory bell-to-bell ban on student cell phone use—stripping locally elected school boards of the ability to make decisions that best serve their communities,” the association wrote in a statement. “PSBA believes that locally elected school directors are in the best position to make decisions for their school communities concerning the use and possession of cell phones and other electronic devices in schools.”
According to PSBA, the bill “usurps local control.”
“PSBA also has some concerns with the wording of SB 1014, specifically the language regarding restriction of device possession and with the language regarding public comment,” PSBA wrote. “The bill would require schools to establish the manner in which a student’s possession of a device is to be restricted. It is unclear whether this language would require schools to take some sort of action to separate a student from their phone at the start of each school day (such as by purchasing and using lockable cell phone bags).”
Hughes said that officials must acknowledge the “good” that comes with the advancements in communication technology. However, he said the harm cannot be ignored.
“We need to have thoughtful conversations to come up with thoughtful policies that advantages the best of this technology, and minimizes the pain and the hurt that the technology can have on people — especially our children,” Hughes said.
The Senate is scheduled to return to session in January.
RADNOR TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — Three winning scratch-off tickets totaling $7.5 million were sold in Pennsylvania, lottery officials announced on Monday.
One winning “MONOPOLY Own It All” ticket worth $5 million was sold in Delaware County at the GIANT on the 500 block of East Lancaster Avenue. The grocery store will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.
“MONOPOLY Own It All” is a $50 game that offers top prizes of $5 million.
In Erie County, a $1.5 million-winning “Cash Spectacular” scratch-off was purchased at a Sheetz on Perry Highway. “Cash Spectacular” is a $30 game that offers top prizes of $1.5 million.
And in Luzerne County, a $1 million-winning “Millionaire Loading” scratch-off was sold at Schiel’s Family Market in Wilkes-Barre. “Millionaire Loading” is a $20 game that offers top prizes of $1 million.
Scratch-off prizes expire one year from the game’s end-sale date posted at palottery.com.
Winners should immediately sign the back of their ticket and call the Pennsylvania Lottery at 1-800-692-7481.
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A new report from U-Haul shows where Pennsylvania residents are leaving to and where new residents are coming from in 2025. Here’s what to know about U-Haul’s top 10 states with the most and least growth numbers.
Eight warm weather states made U-Haul’s top 10 growth list for 2025, while eight states in the colder Northeast and Midwest filled out the bottom 10, including Pennsylvania and neighboring New York, New Jersey, and Ohio. Delaware ranked 21 out of 50 states in growth for 2025.
U-Haul also noted besides geography, that seven of the 10 states with the most growth featured Republican governors, nine of which went red in the last presidential election, and 9 out of 10 in the bottom growth states featured Democrat governors, seven of which went blue in the last presidential election.
“We continue to find that life circumstances — marriage, children, a death in the family, college, jobs and other events — dictate the need for most moves,” said John “J.T.” Taylor, U-Haul International president in press release. Adding, “But other factors can be important to people who are looking to change their surroundings. In-migration states are often appealing to those customers.”
U-Haul ranks states growth based on their one-way customer transactions that rented trucks, trailers or moving containers in one state and dropped it off in another state. Their growth index included over 2.5 million annual one-way transactions across the United States and Canada.
Texas holds the number one U-Haul growth state for the seventh time in the last 10 years while California ranked last for the sixth year in a how.
Pennsylvania’s growth rank for 2025 remained at a low 46 out of 50 states, same as 2024, and compared relatively similar to its growth numbers over the last 10 years, according to U-Haul’s data, with the exception during 2022-2023 when its highest growth numbers hit 24 out of 50 in 2022 and 38 out of 50 in 2023.
Oregon, Mississippi, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Louisiana and Montana were among the biggest year-over-year gainers in 2025 compared to U-Haul’s 2024 rankings, while Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, Delaware and Nebraska saw the biggest drops.
While the national average rent in the U.S. sits at approximately $1,623 per month (0.4% higher than this time last year) the Keystone State boasts a lower rent average at approximately $1,526 per month (1.9% higher than last year), according to Apartments.com. It is ranked 34th least expensive rent by state.
Here’s what to know about Pennsylvania and what states saw the most and least growth in 2025 according to U-Haul.
Top 10 U-Haul growth states of 2025
In 2025 Pennsylvania ranked 46 out of 50 states on growth as reported by U-Haul.
- Texas
- Florida
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Washington
- Arizona
- Idaho
- Alabama
- Georgia
U-Haul reported the 10 states with the lowest growth numbers were lead by California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, and Michigan.
Where are Pennsylvania residents moving to and from?
According to the company’s semiannual U.S. migration trends report, based on the one-way rental data after the summer’s high moving season, it revealed that while Pennsylvania remains a top destination, Pennsylvanians are also packing up and heading out. Here’s where they moved to:
- New York
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- Massachusettes
- Ohio
- Michigan
- Florida
- California
- Washington D.C.
According to this report, here’s what states new residents came from:
- New Jersey
- New York
- Maryland
- Florida
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- Delaware
- Massachusetts
- Ohio
- Texas
- West Virginia
- Michigan
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