Most Central Florida parents oppose moving high school start times to later in the morning, despite evidence it’s better for teenagers, new surveys show.
The region’s public high schools now mostly start at 7:20 a.m. To comply with a new state law, school districts surveyed parents and students about their views on a later first bell, with Orange County Public Schools offering an 8:40 a.m. start.
To accommodate the later high school times, the district told parents elementary schools would get the early time slot and start classes at 7:45 a.m. instead of the current 8:45 a.m.
Middle schools would shift just five minutes, starting at 9:35 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m. Like many Florida school districts, OCPS staggers start times to most efficiently use its school buses and drivers.
But most of the 71,000 people who took the OCPS survey weren’t on board. They marked “disruption of family routines” and “work schedules” as the primary reasons they didn’t want later start times.
Surveys done by the Lake and Seminole county school districts showed similar results. The Osceola County school district is still conducting its survey so did not yet have results to share.
A 2025 law requiring districts to shift start times is what prompted districts to seek input. The law allows districts to opt out if they could prove to the state their community doesn’t support such a schedule.
The 2025 law repealed an earlier law requiring middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. Lawmakers initially mandated the change because numerous studies have shown that later start times could help improve adolescent mental health and academic performance.
But before the law took effect, school districts urged the Legislature to change course. They argued that altering start time schedules would cost millions of dollars as it would require hiring more bus drivers and buying more school buses.
In Seminole, district officials did not immediately provide details but said about 75% of the families surveyed were neutral of preferred the current schedule over one that would shift high schools to a later start.
In Lake, the survey of more than 6,500 high school students found 87% were against moving school start times, citing part-time jobs and after-school sports practices. A survey of parents that is still open for responses shows 93% are against the change, said Sherri Owens, a district spokesperson.
The OCPS survey included links to several studies that supported later start times, including one from the American Academy of Pediatrics that found sleep deprivation as a result of early school times can cause decreased academic performance and increased risk for anxiety, depression in adolescents.
Stephanie Vanos, an Orange County School Board member and mother of three, said she was a supporter of later start times and disappointed at the survey results.
“It is unfortunate that the inconvenience and not wanting to change schedules went out over the health and academic benefits to our students,” she said, as the board reviewed the survey results Tuesday.
In the OCPS survey, 59% of 53,209 parents and community members surveyed opposed the change, as did 66% of the students and 56% of the staff.
Angie Gallo, another Orange school board member who is also the president of the Florida School Boards Association, said the research was “very clear” that later start times were beneficial for students. But Gallo also said she is happy to abide by what the community wants.
“If it was a perfect world where cost wasn’t an issue, busing wasn’t an issue, and we didn’t have to run three, maybe four routes to get to schools, I could see us making that change,” she said. “But that’s just not where Orange County is right now.”