Pupil attendance: school start time.

Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to fix the length of the schoolday for the several grades and classes of the schools maintained by the school district in accordance with specified provisions of law. This bill would require the schoolday for middle schools and high schools, including those operated as charter schools, to begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m. by July 1, 2021, or the date on which a school district's collective bargaining agreement that is operative on January 1, 2019, expires, whichever is later, except for rural school districts. To the extent the bill imposes new duties on school districts and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would encourage the State Department of Education to post specified information on its Internet Web site, including research on the impact of sleep deprivation on adolescents and the benefits of a later school start time, and to advise school districts of this posting. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.