A major change to schools is spreading across America - here's what it would mean for your child

READ MORE: Arizona school district to ban cellphones at school 

Pennsylvania has become the first state to pilot a program that would see student's cellphones locked away during the school day.

Republican Senator Ryan Aument, 47, of the Pennsylvania State Senate sponsored the bill while sharing concerns that smartphones are a big distraction for students when it comes to learning and negatively impacts their mental health.

The Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee has now agreed to a to pilot a grant program that will provided certain schools with secure, lockable bags that would hold students' cellphones until the end of the day.

The proposed grant program would also supply education staffers with lockers to store smartphones as well. 

Republican Senator Ryan Aument, 47, of the Pennsylvania State Senate sponsored a bill that would see student's cellphones locked away during the school day

The program will be tracked for two years before a decision is made on whether to expand the program to other schools in the state

The proposed legislation also put in place a performance review of the cellphone storage plan, tracking the academic achievement and students' mental health over two years to see how effective the program is.

'I can't think of another issue I worked on in the 14 years I've been here that's resonated quite like this has,' Aument said this week, during a Senate Education Committee hearing.

'I just think it's critically important that we free our kids from these devices for six and a half hours during the school day and the response we've gotten from parents and the response we've gotten from educators has been overwhelmingly positive,' he said.

'There's been compelling data and research that's been done that points to the decline in student mental health and student academic performance, student physical health and a direct correlation and strong evidence of direct causation with the rise of smartphone access among adolescents and social media access to adolescents,' Aument said.

The company Yondr has made $2.5 million over eight years selling lock bags made specifically for cellphones to state governments and is now pitching its product for schools

According to the Pew Research Center, the average teen spent about three and a half hours a day on social media in 2023 and it is coming to the detriment of their mental health

According to the Pew Research Center, the average teen spent about three and a half hours a day on social media in 2023.

One high school teacher, Justin Neideigh, said he has seen positive impacts when  students' cellphone use is limited.

'Bullying, cyber bullying, sexting, all these TikTok trends, all of this stuff that was never in the classroom before, is now,' Neideigh told WGAL.

The bill mandates that the School Safety and Security Committee of the Pennsylvania Crime and Delinquency Commission allocate funds to a selection of schools participating in the program.

After the mandatory performance review two years later, the committee would then prepare a report for the governor and General Assembly, which will then make a decision on whether to expand the program to a wider reach of students.

Last week, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H Murthy called for social media platforms to enforce an immediate warning label, similar to warnings on cigarette packs mandated by Congress in the 60s

Once the legislation is reviewed by the full state Senate, the findings could be included in the next state budget.

Last week, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H Murthy called for social media platforms to enforce an immediate warning label - similar to warnings on cigarette packs mandated by Congress in the '60s.

'The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency -- and social media has emerged as an important contributor,' Murthy wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday.