One of the quirks of the legislative process is that a partisan bill can pass while a bipartisan one dies.

Such is the case for a pair of headline education bills in Connecticut this year. House Bill 5468, which imposes Connecticut’s first homeschooling regulations, barely survived the Education Committee and faced strenuous opposition at every step; it now awaits Gov. Ned Lamont’s signature. House Bill 5035, a bell-to-bell cellphone ban for public schools proposed by Lamont himself, cleared the House with bipartisan support; it now appears it will not get a vote in the Senate.

The latter bill was a response to growing concerns about the harm smartphones and social media are inflicting on children, as reflected in Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation.” Had it passed, it would have prohibited Connecticut students in all grades from using their phones from the opening bell to the end of the school day. That includes lunch time and the transition period between classes.

What exactly students did with their phones — whether they put them in a locker, a magnetic pouch, or a backpack — would have been up to individual school districts.

In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk said senators from both parties worried HB 5035 would impede the ability of local districts to meet their communities’ needs.

“A number of senators felt strongly that those decisions [about phone use] should remain with local boards of education,” Duff said. “Given the limited time left in the legislative session, we were not able to reach the consensus needed to bring the bill to the floor.”

The impending death of HB 5035 was unwelcome news to Education Committee co-Chair Rep. Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, who spent hours the previous week defending the bill on the House floor.

“I would love to know what happened,” Leeper said. “I think it’s a shame that … legitimate policy concerns weren’t expressed earlier in the process so they could be addressed, because the data is irrefutable. This is what’s best for children.”

She added, “It seems like the upper chamber wasn’t interested in engaging in those types of conversations.”

With nine hours remaining in the 2026 legislative session, a spokesperson for Lamont’s office refused to rule out a surprise victory on the bill.

“We really hope that Senate leadership can get the Governor’s cell phone bill over the finish line today,” she wrote in an email.

Under current Connecticut law, school districts must develop cellphone policies in line with guidance from the state Department of Education. They can institute bell-to-bell bans if they want, but many have not. Some allow phones for instructional use or between classes.

Whether the state should go further has been the subject of much debate this year. Proponents of HB 5035 — including Lamont, who raised the issue in his State of the State Address — said a statewide bell-to-bell ban is a necessity. Backing them were members of the state’s two major teachers’ unions: Teachers said students in schools with less restrictive policies arrive at class distracted, and many resist repeated prodding to put their phones away. 

Conversely, teachers from districts that already have bell-to-bell bans reported livelier classes and significantly less friction between themselves and students.

But the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, as well as individual school boards, opposed HB 5035 from the outset. They argued districts should be allowed to craft policies that reflected their communities’ needs and values and thought Connecticut’s existing rules went far enough.

That argument did not persuade the House, where 20 Republicans joined most Democrats in advancing the bill. But it seems the Senate was more receptive to school boards’ concerns.

In his statement, Duff said he expected cellphones to come up again in a future session.

“This is not the end of the conversation. Distractions in the classroom are a real problem, and our students deserve an environment where they can learn and reach their full potential. We expect to keep working to make that happen,” Duff said.

Leeper also indicated she’d like to keep working on the issue.

“Hopefully we can understand what the concerns are, so that we can have an opportunity to address those concerns and try again,” Leeper said.