Staff Reports
Gov. Kathy Hochul finally scores a victory that conservatives can applaud with her decision to implement a “bell-to-bell” smartphone ban in New York schools. It’s no secret that smartphones have turned classrooms into digital chaos zones. Kids are more focused on TikTok than textbooks, and it’s long overdue that someone steps in to put an end to this madness. Hochul’s move to get these distractions out of schools is like a breath of fresh air. It’s about time New York put kids’ education back at the forefront.
Of course, in typical liberal fashion, the initiative is wrapped in unnecessary spending. A whopping $13.5 million is being doled out to school districts just to implement this common-sense policy. Why do schools need millions to tell kids to keep their phones in their backpacks? What happened to simple rules and accountability? It’s classic liberal inefficiency: throw money at a problem instead of using old-fashioned discipline and leadership. This wasteful spending feels more like a handout to pacify school administrators rather than a necessity to enforce rules.
It’s shocking it took this long for someone to muster the courage to stand up to the screen addiction plaguing our next generation. Parents across America watch as schools become battlegrounds over cellphone use. Our children deserve classrooms free from digital distractions. But where were the so-called progressive champions of education before? Nowhere to be found, because they are too busy defending every new tech craze instead of focusing on real learning.
Banning smartphones in schools is a win for Gov. Hochul and NY kids https://t.co/mj2KlaiJ0x pic.twitter.com/YPUGu6qLws
— NY Post Opinion (@NYPostOpinion) May 1, 2025
While we applaud this initiative, let’s call a spade a spade: this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the educational reforms New York and this country desperately need. America’s education system continues to slide because of liberal policies that cater more to teachers’ unions and technology companies than to students and parents. Phones in schools are just one piece of a much larger puzzle of systemic failures and ideological priorities misaligned with real-world needs.
As the saying goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Hochul’s smartphone ban is a rare win for common sense in a sea of misguided policies. Can we expect more of this newfound wisdom? Or will the Governor backslide into the typical liberal tendencies of spending without accountability? Only time will tell. For now, conservatives can savor this victory — small as it may be.
