Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued a new executive order Tuesday that will limit or ban cell phone use in public schools – the latest in a string of efforts by officials to crack down on what many see as a classroom distraction and a threat to students’ mental health.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) on Tuesday ordered schools in his state to go cellphone-free, as similar bans on technology take hold in schools across the country.

Youngkin issued the executive order directing the Virginia Department of Education to draft guidance for public schools to adopt cellphone-free policies. The department will also work with teachers, parents, students and other leaders to create procedures “that establish the age-appropriate restriction or elimination of cell phone use during instructional time.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has signed an executive order calling for the establishment of "cellphone-free education" in public schools in an effort to fight back against what he describes as an "alarming mental health crisis and chronic health conditions affecting adolescents." 

The measure, which was signed by the Republican on Tuesday, orders state agencies and its Department of Education to come up with new guidelines that will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed a slew of bills Friday, including one focused on protecting access to contraceptives.

“While I look forward to working with the General Assembly to see if we can reach agreement on language in the future, today I must act on the language before me, and there are several bills which are not ready to become law,” Youngkin said in a release shared by his office.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said Thursday that he had vetoed bills to establish a state-regulated marketplace for marijuana and to raise Virginia’s minimum wage, gutting two Democratic priorities a day after opposition to his plans for a sports arena in Alexandria led Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis to keep the project in the District.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed 30 gun control bills on Tuesday afternoon, using his perch as a Republican governor to restrain Democrats from taking the state in a leftward direction despite the party having taken full control of the legislature in November.

“I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of Virginia, and that absolutely includes protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms,” Youngkin said in a statement.

Republicans are already trading barbs over who is responsible for the party’s losses in Virginia’s off-year state legislative elections, in which Democrats recaptured the house of delegates and narrowly increased their majority in the state senate. And in Virginia, the GOP’s post-election blame game revolves around the lack of direct cash transfers from outside spending groups — namely the Republican National Committee — to combat Democrats’ millions in abortion-focused advertising.