The average school start time for California middle and high schools is 8:07 am and a proposal to push that back to 8:30 am for high schools, and move it up to 8 am for middle schools is getting closer to going to the Governor’s desk.
Senate Bill 328 passed the Senate Appropriations Committee Friday by a vote of 14-3.
Rural counties would be exempt from specified start times.Questions have been raised about the cost. Bill Analysis shows tens of millions of dollars statewide would need to come from the Proposition 98 General Fund. That money would go to districts t make changes to school transportation routes, and hire additional bus drivers. School districts would need an additional amount, projected in the low millions, to add staff both before and after school. Districts would also need hundreds of thousands of dollars for “additional workload associated with collectively bargaining work hours.”