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Gov Vetoes Bill That Would Have Started Middle/High School Schooldays No Earlier Than 8:30 a.m.

CA PTA & American Academy of Pediatrics supported it; CA Teachers Ass'n and statewide School Boards Ass'n opposed; State Senators Lara and Nguyen voted "yes"; Ass'yman O'Donnell voted "no"


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(October 2, 2018, 1:45 p.m.) -- Governor Jerry Brown has vetoed SB 328, a Sacramento bill that would have prohibited middle schools and high schools (including charter schools) from starting their schoolday before 8:30 a.m.

The bill narrowly passed the Assembly on Aug 31 (over the "no" vote on LB Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell, D, LB) after passing the Senate with "yes" votes by state Senators Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park) and Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB-west OC.)

In his veto message, Governor Brown wrote in pertinent part:

This is a one-size-fits-all approach that is opposed by teachers and school boards. Several schools have already moved to late start times. Others prefer beginning the school day earlier. These are the types of decisions best handled in the local community.

SB 328 was supported by the CA PTA and the American Academy of Pediatrics. It was opposed by the CA Teachers Ass'n and statewide School Boards Ass'n (in which LBUSD is a member.)

[Scroll down for further.]




SUPPORT: (per state Senate legislative analysis: verified 8/31/18)

Start School Later, Inc. (source)
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
California Adolescent Health Collaborative
California Federation of Teachers
California Police Chiefs Association
California Sleep Society
California State PTA
Child and Adolescent Development Department, San José State University
Children’s Orthopaedic Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
East Area Progressive Democrats
Educate. Advocate.
Fresno Unified School District
High School Parent Engagement Group
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
Manhattan Beach Unified School District
Pasadena Unified School District
Public Advocates
Public Health Institute
San Francisco Bay Area Physicians for Social Responsibility
Seattle Children’s Sleep Disorders Center/U. of Washington School of Medicine
South Pasadena Unified School District
Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics
Zoe Lofgren, Member of Congress
Numerous individuals

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/31/18)

California School Boards Association
California Teachers Association
Riverside County Office of Education

Sponsor

Sponsor

Recorded votes on Aug. 31, 2018:

Assembly (41-34-5)

Ayes: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Berman, Bloom, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Friedman, Gabriel, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez Fletcher, Gray, Grayson, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Mullin, Obernolte, Quirk, Reyes, Rivas, Rubio, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wood, Rendon

Noes: Acosta, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Caballero, Cervantes, Chen, Choi, Cooley, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Gallagher, Harper, Irwin, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Mathis, Mayes, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Patterson, Quirk-Silva, Salas, Steinorth

No Votes Recorded: Bonta, Cooper, Cristina Garcia, Limón, Rodriguez

State Senate (23-14-3)

Ayes: Allen, Atkins, Beall, Bradford, De León, Delgado, Dodd, Galgiani, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Portantino, Skinner, Wieckowski, Wiener

Noes: Anderson, Bates, Cannella, Chang, Fuller, Gaines, Glazer, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Stone, Vidak, Wilk

No Votes Recorded: Berryhill, Roth, Stern

Sponsor


Comments as reported in state Senate legislative analysis:

1) Need for the bill. According to the author, "The leaders of local school districts are or should be well-aware that requiring students -- especially adolescents -- to wake, travel to school, and learn during early morning hours is contrary to the developmental needs and biological sleep cycles of growing minds and bodies. Yet, only a handful of districts have been proactive in doing what is right for students by making the change back to traditional school hours, which prior to the 1980s had most school opening between 8:30 and 9 a.m. Today, most middle and high schools begin at or way before 8 a.m. According to the most recent data available, the average start time among California-based public schools is 8:07 a.m."

2) Science of adolescent sleep. According to the author, "The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are among the organizations and experts that have reported on the harm being done to the physical and emotional health of adolescents due to the sleep deprivation caused by such developmentally-misaligned school hours. Similarly, researchers report that academic success and school attendance is greatly improved by later starting school days. The recommendation made the American Academy of pediatrics -- and supported by the AMA, CDC, and others -- states that no middle or high school should begin before 8:30 a.m. Other organizations add that no elementary school should begin before 8 a.m."

A specific example of a research study supporting these contentions is Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study, conducted by the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. In its final report, CAREI’s major findings stated that "The results from this three-year research study, conducted with over 9,000 students in eight public high school in three states, reveal that high schools that start at 8:30 AM or later allow for more than 60% of students to obtain at least eight hours of sleep per school night. Teens getting less than eight hours of sleep reported significant higher depression symptoms, greater use of caffeine, and are at a greater risk for making choices for substance abuse. Academic performance outcomes, including grades earned in core subject areas of math, English, science, and social studies, plus performance on state and national achievement tests, attendance rates, and reduced tardiness show significantly positive improvement with the later start times of 8:30 AM or later. Finally, the number of car crashes for teen drivers from 16 to 18 years of age was significantly reduced by 70% when a school shifted start times from 7:35 AM to 8:55 AM."

By moving the start time back to 8:30 a.m. or later for middle schools and high schools, this bill could improve attendance rates and reduce tardiness. A study involving 29 high schools and 30,000 students over seven states, Delayed High School Start Times later than 8:30 a.m. and Impact on Graduation Rates and Attendance Rates, concluded that "Attendance rates and graduation rates significantly improved in schools with delayed start times of 8:30 a.m. or later. School officials need to take special notice that this investigation also raised questions about whether later start times are a mechanism for closing the achievement gap due to improved graduation rates."

3) Potential unintended impacts. This bill requires many school districts to push back their current start times to 8:30 a.m. or later, which for some schools would be almost an hour later and could have unintended impacts, including, but not limited to, impacts on each of the following:

a) Working and single parent families. It is near impossible for school boards to set their school start times at a time that is convenient for all parents and guardians because in any given community there is a variance of work schedules for parents and guardians. Does pushing back school start times disproportionately impact working families and single parent families who may not be able take their children to school later or easily arrange for child care? Is this an issue that will exist regardless of school start time?

b) Home-to-school transportation. Will school districts that choose to provide home-to-school transportation be able to maintain their current capacities without increased costs? Will schools districts providing required transportation be forced to incur additional costs?

c) Extracurricular activities, including athletics. Pushing back the time school starts necessitates pushing back the time school ends. Could shifting time in the afternoon that is currently free for extracurricular activities to in-class school time negatively impact extracurricular activities, including athletics? Conversely, could requiring every school to start at 8:30 a.m. or later actually help athletics schedules? Are there positive benefits to keeping students who are not engaged in after school extracurricular activities in school longer?

d) Before and after school programs. Will pushing back school start times increase capacity demands on before school programs? Are there sufficient resources to meet those demands? How will later school start times impact the need for, and enrollment in, after school programs?

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