By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-19 10:26:55 | Updated at 2026-09-19 11:27:46
1 hour ago
The 7:30 a.m. first bell is steadily fading in schools across the nation.
Some middle and high schools across Florida kicked off the 2026-2027 academic year with later start times even though a statewide law mandating it was repealed and replaced with a policy allowing districts to determine their own schedules.
California’s law, which took effect in 2023, prohibits middle schools from starting before 8 a.m. and high schools before 8:30 a.m.
Similar legislation is pending in 11 other states and could see action ahead of the next school year, including in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut, according to the Start School Later coalition of sleep scientists, educators, and medical professionals.
Several individual districts aren’t waiting for a state mandate. Denver, Nashville, Clark County in Nevada, and Fairport in New York, are among those that recently pushed back start times for K-12 students by between 30 and 60 minutes under recommendations provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
“During adolescence, internal circadian rhythms and biological sleep drive change to result in later sleep and wake times. As a result of these changes, early middle school and high school start times curtail sleep, hamper a student’s preparedness to learn, negatively impact physical and mental health, and impair driving safety. Furthermore, a growing body of evidence shows that delaying school start times positively impacts student achievement, health, and safety,” the American Academy of Sleep Medicine states.
The Centers for Disease Control, in a 2025 report, indicated that only 23 percent of high schoolers got the recommended minimum eight hours of sleep on school nights.
In 2012, the start time at Glens Falls High School in Upstate New York was moved from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Within six years, district officials reported significant academic improvements and a 30 percent increase in student punctuality, according to the School Superintendents Association.
A later start time does present challenges: Teachers, bus drivers, and other school employee unions might have contracts that favor an earlier schedule. Parents might not have the ability to change their work schedule to provide supervision or transportation later in the morning, and a later arrival from school could also disrupt household routines or scheduled after-school activities.
Maribel Ibrahim, Start School Later co-founder and operations director, said schools have been able to address all of those concerns with solutions that satisfy families and school employees without significant spending increases. The organization has chapters across the country and will hold an information session for educators and families at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, on Oct. 13. That state has experienced a set of stops and starts with legislation for later start times.
She noted how schools were able to “change on a dime” to move to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then re-open months later with a later start time.
“When it was a medical necessity, we made it work,” Ibrahim told The Epoch Times. “We need the same sort of respect given to sleep.”
Ibrahim has been involved with Start School Later since 2011. In the past 15 years, lawmakers in 31 states have passed, piloted, studied, or at least considered legislation for later start times. California’s law was a huge momentum swing, she said, and school districts across the nation might be viewing the 8:30 a.m. start time as an industry standard that they’ll eventually need to adopt.
“People are talking about this because the students and staff in schools are more alert and happier, and you’re seeing improvements in academics and athletics,” she said.
Ibrahim commended school leaders who found innovative ways to help students balance their school day with athletics and homework. For example, one district that deals with extensive travel for sports competitions installed wi-fi on buses so the athletes can work on their homework on the ride back from games instead of staying up late after they get home.
Still, she said, later school start times don’t diminish the need for parental involvement in this digital age and the need for promoting good sleep hygiene.
“Circadian rhythms are prevalent in mammals and animals that aren’t up late scrolling on their phones,” she said.
