A new school start times bill, SB 328 was signed into law earlier this month that will require high schools to start classes after 8:30am by July 2022. While we support the bill’s aim of helping high school students get more sleep, we are concerned about the potential unintended impact on student safety arising from students walking or biking to school at times with higher traffic volumes. We had suggested some amendments on safety that were not included in the final legislation. The bill was amended so that rural school districts are entirely exempt from the law, and to change the earliest start time for middle schools to 8:00am instead of 8:30am.
