The order from Gov. Tina Kotek mandates that Oregon school districts adopt policies banning student cell phone use in K-12 schools by Oct. 31, 2025, with full implementation required by Jan. 1,

Next Halloween could be extra scary for students across Oregon, courtesy of an executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Tina Kotek that gives the state’s 197 public school districts until October 31 to come up with a policy that prohibits cellphone use for the entire school day.

The governor had indicated she would ban phones in schools when a bill that would have done the same thing died in the Oregon Legislature.