TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – 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.
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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.
The start times will be required to take effect by July 2026, giving school districts three years to develop plans.
About 48% 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.
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. “It’s the ‘how’ that can be the hard challenge and the logistics of that and how we make this happen.”
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The bill has led to concerns about issues such as student transportation and how working parents would be affected by later school start times.