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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | October 24, 2023 02:28 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jill N. Cooper |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Delayed School Start Time |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce legislation that will require public secondary schools in Pennsylvania to institute a later start time to the school day. In October 2019, the Joint State Government Commission in Pennsylvania released a comprehensive report, entitled Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents: A Case for Delaying Secondary School Start Times, highlighting the need for delayed school start times. There is a consensus in the medical community that a public health crisis exists in the form of an epidemic of chronic sleep loss and daytime sleepiness in adolescents. The US Department of Health’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health has made sufficient sleep for high school students an objective of their Healthy People 2020 Program, and the National Sleep Foundation notes the consequences of sleep deprivation during teenage years are especially serious. Research has shown that adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to suffer from physical and mental health problems, including obesity and suicide ideation, are more likely to decline in academic performance, and are at an increased risk of being involved in an automobile accident. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended that adolescents, 13 to 18 years of age, receive 8-10 hours of sleep per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended secondary schools aim for start times that allow students to receive the recommended amount of sleep. Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, this legislation would require the instructional day for public secondary schools to begin no earlier than 8:15 a.m. Further, it would require each governing board of a public school entity to inform its school community about the health and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on secondary school students and the benefits of a later school start time, and to discuss local strategies to implement a delayed school start time. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as HB1848