Senate Bill may hit snooze button
California high schoolers might be one step closer to sleeping in on school days as a bill to push back school start times passes through the State Assembly Education Committee.
Senate Bill 326, reintroduced by State Senator Anthony Portantino, proposes that California high schools should start classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools start no earlier than 8 a.m. The bill was passed through the State Assembly Education Committee on July 10 by a vote of 4-1.
Advocates for the bill argue teenagers need more sleep in order to have better health and improve their performance in school. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers need about eight to 10 hours of sleep in order to function properly. However, only 15% of them reported sleeping eight-and-a-half hours on school nights.
Sen. Portantino said that there are three decades of peer reviewed science on sleep and teenagers that prove later school start times are healthier for students.
“What this research uncovered is that, if you move school start time later in the morning, teenagers get more of that very valuable morning deep sleep,” he said. “And consequently, school districts that move to a later start time see test scores go up, attendance go up, and graduation rates go up.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a new policy statement in 2014 that said insufficient sleep in teenagers is a public health issue that affects their health, safety and academic success. It said that middle schools and high schools should try to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the average time schools start in California is 8:07 a.m.
If passed, the bill would aim to standardize school start times to be later throughout the state. Schools would have until July 1, 2021, or when their school district’s collective bargaining agreement expires, to change when their school day begins. It would also encourage the State Department of Education to share research on the harmful effects of sleep deprivation in teenagers and the benefits of later school start times on their website.
The original version of this bill, which proposed that both middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., was introduced in February 2017. Despite passing through the California State Assembly and State Senate, it was vetoed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in September 2018.
In his veto message, Brown said that the time schools start is an issue better handled locally.
“This is a one-size-fits-all approach that is opposed by teachers and school boards. Several schools have already moved to later start times,” he said. “Others prefer beginning the school day earlier.”
Portantino, however, said that the local control angle doesn’t work since there have been school districts that have wanted to move to later start times but haven’t been able to because other districts didn’t want to disrupt after-school schedules.
“What we need to do is to coordinate all the extra curricular activities, which is why having the start time be uniform helps with the extracurricular activities,” he said.
There have been several other arguments against the bill aside from the disruption of after-school activities. Opponents have also said that later school start times would lead to issues with transportation of students for working and single-parent families.
The bill is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control and California Parent Teacher Association. Opponents of the bill include the California School Boards Association and the California Teachers Association.
Portantino added that he thinks this is a public health issue, which makes it appropriate for the State of California to set a minimum public health standard.
“The state is setting a minimum health and welfare standard based on science and that is high school should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.,” he said.
