Gov DeSantis signs bill pushing school start times back for middle and high schoolers
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that will lead to many high-school students having later school start times in the future.
Lawmakers passed the bill (HB 733) during the legislative session that ended last week.
It will prevent middle schools from beginning the “instructional day” earlier than 8 a.m., while high schools will be barred from starting the school day before 8:30 a.m.
>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<
The start times will be required to take effect by July 2026, giving school districts three years to develop plans.
About 48 percent of Florida’s public high schools start school before 7:30 a.m., according to the Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.
Another 19 percent of high schools start between 7:30 a.m. and 7:59 a.m.
Read: Lake Nona Middle School teacher resigns after ‘offensive’ student presentation
Supporters of the bill have pointed to studies that say later start times would benefit high-school students.
“What we’re doing now (with earlier start times) is not what’s best for our kids, for the adolescents especially,” Senate bill sponsor Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said during the session.
Read: Brightline train tickets from Orlando to South Florida go on sale next week
“It’s the ‘how’ that can be the hard challenge and the logistics of that and how we make this happen.”
But the bill has led to concerns about issues such as student transportation and how working parents would be affected by later school start times.
Read: What are arrow keys, the keys postal workers carry that thieves want
Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
