FLORIDA, USA — Thanks to a newly passed law in Florida, some middle and high school students will soon have a little more time in the morning to sleep in before heading to the classrooms.
House Bill 733 requires Florida public middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and for high schools to begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
“When you balance out the needs of the students, their physical needs, their emotional needs, but also their health needs, there have been numerous studies brought forth about children needing to sleep," State Sen. Rosalind Osgood said.
Osgood is a Democrat representing Tamarac.
The start time adjustments must be made by July 2026, giving school districts time to plan.
This law will impact the majority of Florida public high schools. About 67 percent of them start before 8 a.m. now.
More specifically, about 48 percent of Florida’s public high schools currently start school before 7:30 a.m. Another 19 percent of high schools start between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m.
“Medical science has shown that this is what’s best," Republican State Sen. Danny Burgess said. "What we are doing now is not what’s best for our kids, for the adolescents especially.”
The law also requires each district school board to inform its community — including parents, students, teachers, school administrators, athletic coaches and other stakeholders — about the health, safety and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on middle school and high school students, the benefits of a later school start time and discuss local strategies to successfully implement the later school start times.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to each school district in the Tampa Bay area about how this legislation will impact its schools. Here are their responses, in no particular order.
Hernando County:
There are four middle schools in the county, none of which will be impacted by this legislation. There are five high schools in the county, all of which will be impacted by the legislation.
The district spokesperson said to comply with legislation, it will likely require schools to hire additional bus drivers.
"The district's transportation department has already begun to develop preliminary route schedules that would meet the requirements under the new law. However, these would only be preliminary," Karen Jordan, spokesperson for Hernando County Schools, said. "Student and community growth will add another important factor in developing those route schedules.
"As we get closer to 2026, the district will launch an informational campaign to ensure parents are aware and understand how the new schedule may impact families."
Hillsborough County:
"We are already in compliance with the legislation (now law!). HCPS changed school start times a few years ago," Jennifer Holton, spokesperson for Hillsborough County Schools, said. "Our high school students start at 8:30 a.m. and our middle schools begin at 9:20 a.m. So our schools will have no impact from this bill."
Hardee County:
Hardee County has just one middle school and one high school. Neither will be impacted by this new law.
"All district elementary schools start at 7:30 a.m. Middle school starts at 8:20 a.m. High school starts at 8:30 a.m.," Bob Shayman, spokesperson for Hardee County Schools, said.
Sarasota County:
"Our traditional public schools all share back-to-school information with families – including supply lists, bell schedules, clubs & activities etc. for the new school year – throughout the summer (as it becomes available) until the start of school," Kelsey Whealy, spokesperson for Sarasota County Schools said. "Any changes to our traditional public schools’ schedules would be under the purview of our School Board; this is likely a matter they would address during an upcoming work session, including how any changes would impact other departments.
"The district is unable to speculate about a School Board discussion that has yet to occur."
Pasco County:
Based on the approved bell times for next school year (2023-24), Pasco County has six middle schools that start earlier than 8 a.m. Pasco County has a total of 18 schools that include middle school grades, one of which is virtual and does not have a bell start time.
Pasco County adjusts bell times from year to year.
Fifteen high schools are proposed to have start times prior to 8:30 a.m. in the 2023-24 school year. The county has a total of 18 high schools.
"The only way we could accommodate eliminating the earlier times would be to have some additional later times," Steve Hegarty, spokesperson for the county school district, said. "We already have some schools with start times around 10:10 a.m., and parents often object."
Pinellas County:
Two traditional and two fundamental middle schools will be impacted. Pinellas County has a total of 22 middle schools, which includes 18 traditional middle schools, 2 fundamental and 2 K-8 schools.
All 17 traditional high schools would be impacted.
"The district’s school bus schedule works on a three tier system," Isabel Mascareñas, a spokesperson for Pinellas County schools, said. "To meet the new requirements under HB 733, the district will have to review the bell schedule for all schools.
"It’s too early to say how HB 733 will impact the number of school bus drivers needed. Pinellas County Schools Transportation Department is making several adjustments for the 2023-2024 school year to increase efficiency in practices that have been affected by the national bus driver shortage. We are reducing the number of arterial “hub” stops for our middle and high school District Application Programs and combining bus routes across schools where capacity allows. Changes to arterial “hub” stops will be communicated to families in July.
"The district also launched a school bus ridership campaign last month to help streamline our routing process. We’re asking eligible families to declare their transportation needs. Each year, over 36,000 eligible PCS students are routed for transportation, but only 22,000 actually ride. Families can make their selection in the Transportation Ridership Form in their parent portal. Visit https://www.pcsb.org/transportation for more information."
10 Tampa Bay also requested responses from Citrus, Manatee, Polk, and Highlands County school districts. At the time of this publication, a response has not yet been received.
Charter schools also must comply with this new law. Charter school-in-the-workplace is exempt from this requirement.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.