Repeal of later school start times awaits DeSantis’ decision

Low angle of school pedestrian crosswalk street sign on Manhattan island in downtown of New York city against high building

On Friday, the Governor received legislation that would roll back a new law requiring later middle and high school start times and conceding it’s best to let local school officials decide what time school should start.

SB 296, if signed by Ron DeSantis, will repeal a 2023 law requiring middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools not before 8:30 a.m.

Both the Senate and House passed the bill this Session to cure the two-year-old measure.

The new law would not have taken effect until 2026, but local school officials warned the change was creating logistical nightmares for larger school districts and some rural ones.

Elementary school students could be waiting outside even earlier in the dark for their buses. School districts, already facing a bus driver shortage, would have needed to hire even more drivers. Working parents also weren’t pleased with the new schedule. It also could have caused scheduling challenges for teenagers who dual enroll at local colleges.

Under SB 296, the mandated later start times will not be enforced, but lawmakers want school districts to report back about considerations for deciding school start times.

The school districts will be required to report on the start times, the community engagement process and the financial impacts about delayed start times. Once the district submits that document in writing, then they are considered in compliance with the 2023 law, no matter when school begins.

The average Florida high school starts at 7:45 a.m., according to Senate staff analysis.

“Forty-six percent of high schools start before 7:30 a.m., and 19 percent of high schools start between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m,” the analysis said. “For Florida middle schools, the average start time is 9:03 a.m., with only eight percent of schools starting prior to 8:00 a.m.”

Even the original sponsor of the 2023 bill was in favor of overturning it.

“Without more resources, without maybe even more time to figure out how we actually implement this in real time, with bus driver shortages and the like, we are possibly walking into a minefield that we shouldn’t venture into,” said Sen. Danny Burgess, a Zephyrhills Republican, during last month’s committee debate. “It was one heck of a pain in the butt that bill was. And so this makes me wonder what it was really all for.”

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A.G. Gancarski and Gabrielle Russon contributed reporting.