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Gov. Brown vetoes proposal for later school starts


Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have delayed school start times for teenagers despite evidence that students are not getting enough sleep. 

The bill was passed by Legislature on Aug. 31 following conversation and debate about whether state government or local school boards should decide start times for schools.

The proposed Senate Bill No. 328 would have:
  • Set school start at no earlier than 8:30 a.m. for middle schools and high schools, including charter schools
  • Prohibited extra periods or classes before the start of regular school time
  • Taken effect July 1, 2021, for middle schools and high schools
  • Not have applied to rural schools
  • Encouraged schools to post research onto their websites on the impact of sleep deprivation and benefits of later school start times
  • Encouraged school districts to inform communities and discuss the importance of academic excellence and health
A recent study concluded that students are not getting enough sleep. 

“Adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight; not engage in daily physical activity; suffer from depressive symptoms; engage in unhealthy risk behaviors such as drinking, smoking tobacco,  using illicit drugs and perform poorly in school,” according to a study conducted in 2018 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “However, insufficient sleep is common among high school students, with less than one third of U.S. high school students sleeping at least eight hours on school nights.”

Both supporters and opponents to the issue had sent letters to the governor in an attempt to influence his decision. Social media tweets show diverse points of view on the issue.






“I don’t have a problem with (setting later start times statewide), but the logistics of it gets very complicated because you have athletics in the afternoon and work duties,” said Reg Govan, assistant principal at Chico High School. 
“When you start to play with the schedule and spread people's days out or you move people's days, now you're into a contract conversation and now you have to get permission with the unions and make these adjustments to the schedule and it’s very complicated,” he explained. “If they just said ‘we are going to do it,’ it would take a lot just because of contacts.”


Reg Govan 


Despite a seven-year lobbying campaign by Start School Later and others, Brown vetoed the bill Sept. 20.

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

                                                                                                                 -- By Jacqueline Morales

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