Teens can set alarm a bit later as push for later school start times succeeds.
Effort to push back school start times rings up win as Newsom signs legislation
SACRAMENTO — Many middle and high schools will have to push back their morning bells after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Sunday that makes California the first state in the country to require later class start times.
SB328 sets the earliest start times at 8 a.m. for middle schools and 8:30 a.m. for high schools, beginning with the 202223 school year.
The change does not apply to rural school districts and excludes optional “zero periods,” when students show up before the regular school day for additional courses or activities.
It was the third attempt by Sen. Anthony Portantino, DLa Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), to secure later start times, which he
argues would provide health and academic benefits to students. The proposal fell short in the Legislature in 2017, and thenGov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill last year, calling it a “one-sizefitsall approach” to a decision “best handled in the local community.”
Newsom signed the bill without comment Sunday evening, hours before a midnight deadline to sign or veto legislation passed this year.
The issue has divided Sacramento lawmakers along scientific and political lines, pitting the perks of extra sleep for teenagers against the logistical complications for their parents and school districts. Legislators argued over the measure late on the final night of their session last month, with some making personal pleas as parents for their colleagues to vote for the bill.
Supporters point to studies that have found moving the school day later was followed by increased attendance and graduation rates, improved grades and fewer car crashes.
In 2014, the American Association of Pediatrics recommended that middle and high schools delay the start of classes until at least 8:30 a.m. to better align with the biological rhythms of teenagers. The group said teens naturally have difficultly falling asleep before 11 p.m. and need 8½ to 9½ hours of sleep a night.
That guidance formed the basis for Portantino’s bill, which was endorsed by groups representing doctors, police chiefs and district attorneys, as well as the California State PTA.
But it was vigorously opposed by associations for school boards, teachers and administrators, which objected to the state intervening in an area that has traditionally been left to local control. They argued that the change would make it more difficult to fit in extracurricular activities, to renegotiate employee contracts and give parents time to get their children to school on the way to work. An analysis by the state Department of Finance found it could cost school districts millions of dollars a year to hire additional bus drivers.
“The process of creating and maintaining a school district master schedule is a complicated one that must balance many different factors, and a change in that schedule, even of minutes, can result in unintended consequences for students, staff, parents and the community,” Aimee Eng, president of the Oakland school board, wrote in a letter of opposition to the Assembly.
Thousands of California middle and high schools will likely be forced to move back their start times under the law.
A 2015 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that during the 201112 academic year, only about 21% of nearly 3,900 secondary schools in California started at 8:30 a.m. or later. More than 30% started before 8 a.m. The report did not distinguish between middle, high and combined schools.
The San Francisco Unified School District did not take a position on the bill. Fifteen high schools in the district start before 8:30 a.m.