ORLANDO, Fla. – New school start times mandated by the state set to go into effect in 2026 hit the chopping block Thursday in Tallahassee.
Florida middle and high schools had been facing a deadline of June next year to get ready for later times, but now school start times may be back in the hands of local school boards.
The rules to change school start times were passed in 2023. They would have changed middle school start times to no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
The legislature’s Office Of Program Policy Analysis And Government Accountability found that the average start time for state high schools is 7:45 a.m. with 46% of high schools starting before 7:30 a.m. and 19% starting between 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.
But now, three years later, lawmakers cited major concerns from local school leaders around the state and unanimously passed Senate Bill 296 to reverse the plans.
The bill sponsor, state Sen. Jennifer Bradley, said the schedule demands were not feasible without extra funding for staffing and buses. After-school activities and childcare constraints were also major concerns taken into account with the enforcement of later start times. Bradley’s bill made a compromise to alleviate the pressure.
“This bill removes the statewide mandate for middle schools and high schools to start at specific times and instead requires that district school boards inform the community of the health, safety and academic impacts of sleep deprivation. That school districts consider the benefits of later start times. It requires districts to submit a report to the Department of Education, documenting those efforts, documenting the strategies that they considered, the board meetings, the public meetings on the issue, the identification of consequences if school start times were to be adopted. The bill provides that if this report is submitted to the DOE that satisfies the district’s compliance with this law. Then the determination of their transportation policies would then be allowed to occur at the local level,” Bradley said on Thursday.
The original legislation from 2023 was well-intentioned. It was drawn up as a plan to help adolescents and teens get more sleep based on health studies. Research shows those age groups need eight to 10 hours of sleep but have trouble falling asleep early enough to achieve that recommendation.
A similar bill is also moving through Florida House of Representatives.