With Florida school districts facing a 2026 deadline, a Senate Republican on Friday filed a proposal that would repeal requirements aimed at later start times for many high schools.
The proposal (SB 296), filed by Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, would undo changes that lawmakers passed in 2023. Those changes require that by July 1, 2026, middle schools cannot start earlier than 8 a.m., and high schools cannot start earlier than 8:30 a.m.
The proposal would also benefit Flagler County schools, where officials in 2023 studied new start times, but in the opposite direction: earlier start times for high school students. (See: “Flagler District Wants Earlier High School Start Time Just as State and Research Go the Other Way.”)
Supporters of later start times have argued that the changes would help high-school students get more sleep. But the requirements have faced concerns from school districts about issues such as bus schedules.
During a legislative delegation meeting this month, for example, Okeechobee County Superintendent of Schools Dylan Tedders pointed to issues in carrying out the requirements in his largely rural district.
“A huge topic for us in this community is going to be school start times, and you’re hearing that everywhere,” Tedders told the county delegation’s members, Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, and Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid.
Tedders said high school starts in Okeechobee County at 7 a.m., elementary school starts at 8 a.m., and middle school starts at 9 a.m.
“That system works for us,” Tedders said. “We have three tiers of busing that makes all of those things seamlessly go together. To have to combine those, or shift those around, that would put elementary students out in the dark (in the morning at bus stops) potentially. So even for the high school students, to be able to go to a job, go to activities or even participate in athletics, they need to be able to get out on those same times that we do now.”
Also, the Small School District Council Consortium, which represents small districts across the state, is urging lawmakers to provide flexibility or waivers for districts where the start-time requirements are “problematic,” according to legislative priorities posted on the organization’s website.
While the requirements apply to high schools and middle schools, they are expected to have the most effect on high schools.
A 2023 House staff analysis cited a report that showed 48 percent of public high schools started before 7:30 a.m., and 19 percent started between 7:30 a.m. and 7:59 a.m. Meanwhile, 83 percent of middle schools started at 8:30 a.m. or later, according to the report by the Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.
Lawmakers approved the requirements amid research that indicated older students are not getting enough sleep, affecting their academic performance and health.
“This is one of those pieces of legislation where we understand the ‘why’ very well,” Senate bill sponsor Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said during a 2023 debate on the issue. “Studies, medical science, has shown that this is what’s best. What we’re doing now (with earlier start times) is not what’s best for our kids. For the adolescents especially.”
The 2023 legislation included what Burgess described as a “three-year glide path” to carry out the requirements.
Bradley’s bill is filed for consideration during the legislative session that will start March 4.
–News Service of Florida and FlaglerLive
Parent says
Flagler proposed
High School : 8:30 am
Middle School : 9:35 am
Elementary School : 7:40 am
Sinan Wiese says
More sleep for High Scholl Students might be a good thing. Florida currently ranks 46th out of 52 States when it comes to educational Rankings. The SAT Scores have decreased every year for. at least, the last five years. The MEAN Score on the SAT Exams are lower than the SAT Score requirements to get into a Florida State College. And, Governor DeSantis wants to make our Educational System a Model for the Nation. No wonder they want to abolish the US Department of education!
Ed P says
Here’s a novel thought. Let home rule be the law. Are we at a point that local school districts aren’t capable of setting start and end times? Taxpayer dollars matter.
You can’t ignore the $28 billion spent annually to transport school children k-12.
It’s 8-10 percent of the entire cost of public education.
A small dose of common sense is needed.
Jack says
Did anyone ever entertain the idea of going to bed earlier? How about not playing video games till 3am? How about not watching Tik Tok till midnight?? My sister has kids pour into her classroom at the HS who boast they were up till 3 playing online.
JimboXYZ says
Exactly, that’s the issue, times have changed in America for technology. I was always at HS at 7:30 AM start time, but that was the 1970’s, no internet, fewer distractions were relatively non-existent in comparison. TV time was the main concern. I don’t know so much that shuffling the hours will only shift the same behavior for sleep patterns to the proposed new hours. Volusia County for 9-12 is 8:30 AM. Whatever they do, parents are going to have to shut the router & internet off & manage that, maybe confiscate the minors smartphones nightly to a bed time curfew to eliminate the up all night data plan activity ? If they aren’t studying for internet/data plan use, texting or online activities need to be handled in the home where a child is unable to handle the temptations of those addictions.
https://www.vcsedu.org/parents-students/school-hours
As an adult, work days were always 8 AM-5 PM, that changed when career evolved into the IT field. I lived in Miami, FL at that time, I always was an hour ahead of my start time, just to beat the gridlock traffic there. Employer always got their extra hour gratis as a salaried employee. At the end of the day they were also getting more hours as a remote from home connection. I wish I had cut them off, it’s not like I was ever going to be compensated for it. Got to the point I was working on +/-6 hours of sleep for those 2 decades. Time served though for my contribution to society, they’ll take the best years of your life, low ball on that & then cycle to the next gen of labor.
Deborah Coffey says
Republicans love the poorly educated.
Jack says
I an not sure how or why this comment really was even written. Ha
Jack says
@ Jimboxyz. Well said- SHut that wifi and be a parent!
YankeeExPat says
In my daily travels on (Florida Park Drive and surrounding areas ). I encounter generally 3 to 4 school buses on school days as I make my way to work. And for the life of me I cannot understand why motorist on a weekly basis still go around stopped busses with the warning lights clearly flashing and the retractable stop signs extended out in operation. I wish these local yocal’s would Please smarten up and realize that they are putting these kids in danger. Do you really want to have the guilt of causing a tragedy on your conscience ? Get the fuck of the phone and pay attention to driving !
Atwp says
Going to bed on time issss very important. Why change school starting times when students don’t go to bed on time?
Debbie Tea says
My 13 year old has to be at the bus stop at 6:20 and she gets good grades. Parents need to parent and tell their kids to do their homework and go to bed at a decent time.
Laurel says
Many people here are commenting to “be a parent.” That’s a good idea, but we now know, scientifically proven, that as a species, we are all different. Nature made sure that as a tribe, if all the tribe was asleep at the same time, it would make that tribe vulnerable. So, we have early to bed, early to rise members; later to bed, later to rise members; and those who are up all night, and sleep well into the afternoon. This keeps the tribe aware of possible danger, 24 hours a day. It is literally in our DNA. Nature is very clever!
It is very common for adolescents to sleep late, but many get over it as they become adults. As an elementary school kid, I had no problem riding my bike to school early. As an adolescent, I had a horrible time trying to catch the bus in the morning, and my mom often had to take me to school. As an adult, I never got over it.
I just learned about this recently, myself. I had great difficulty, all my life, fitting into the 9-5 world. Sleep deprived for years. Before y’all try to mold your children into people, who too may suffer a lifetime of a false conformity, please watch this “Diary of a CEO” podcast with the number one sleep expert, Dr. Matthew Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4eWU9X4nzA . It’s eye opening, pun intended.
Also, enjoy the song “Too Sweet” by Hozier. Look it up. The lyrics explain how a man cannot, and won’t, conform to the accepted 9-5 world, and explains this to his happily 9-5er girlfriend.
“I take my whiskey neat,
My coffee black,
and my bed at 3:00,
You’re two sweet for me…”
He also states “how do you sleep so well?” The same schedule simply does not work for him.
My theme song. Wish I had known years ago.
Jack says
@Laurel. It may not be perfect for everyone but the majority really should be the consideration. If most people are 9-5ers then that should be the rule. The outliers can be home schooled if that fits their “sleep” schedule.
Laurel says
Jack: Interesting. My guess is that you did not watch the podcast I suggested. Also, it appears that you prefer conformity, for your own comfort, over other’s individual needs. Surprisingly, you don’t realize that not everyone can afford to home school, as most young parents, these days, need two incomes.
I am happy to say that my world is not so black and white. I don’t believe that only one way of thinking, and behaving, “should be the rule.” Mayo Clinic has a whole department, and building in Jacksonville, dedicated to sleep, called the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic. It is there where I learned about these sleep differences in people, and how their circadian rhythm is effected. They treat sleep apnea and other sleep disorders as well.
From Mayo Clinic: “Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPD), also known as Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS), is a neurological sleep disorder in which a person’s sleep/wake cycle is delayed with respect to the external day/night cycle. The person is unable to fall asleep until the wee hours, typically somewhere between 2 am and 6 am, and sleeps correspondingly longer in the daytime, often well into the afternoon.
So before you set your clock for everyone else to follow, I suggest, again, that you watch that podcast. I will listen to the professionals, over opinions, any day, or night.
Endless dark money says
Well rcons defunded the schools for private profits. It won’t get better with the cult of cons making the decisions. Facts are woke.
Dev says
Middle schoolers are catching busses at 6 am to 6:30 am, so they’d be ideally getting to bed around 7:00 pm to 8pm, which isn’t as easy for a 13 year old “teenager.” For them, that’s like, little kid night-night time.
Getting to bed earlier is absolutely part of the equation, but with residents widely dispersed throughout all of Flagler County, you have kids that need to wake up at 5 am to get breakfast, get dressed, and be out at the bus stops on time. Considering they need 9 -12 hours of sleep for proper development and brain functioning during the day, early start times are a challenge for these kids.
The parents could drive them to school, provided they aren’t themselves off to work at 6 or 7 am in a different direction. There’s always that balance to consider.