New bill calls for statewide 8:30 a.m. school start time

Rep. Joy Hearn opposes the legislation

EastBayRI.com ·

Just two days after the Barrington School Committee voted through a budget that did not include funding for the school start time initiative, a legislator from North Kingstown submitted a bill that would offer each school district in Rhode Island $200,000 for that exact cause.

The bill also calls for all high schools in Rhode Island to start at 8:30 a.m.

Julie Casimiro submitted H5888 on Wednesday, March 8, and a day later said in an interview that she had been approached by parents of North Kingstown students, who asked her to propose the legislation.

School budget eliminates funding for start time change.

"I know $200,000 isn't going to cover it for some school districts," said Ms. Casimiro. "It's going to cost around $400,000 in North Kingstown."

In Barrington, officials estimated the school start time initiative to cost taxpayers about $300,000 each year. The bulk of the cost is tied to busing. Ms. Casimiro said busing is also to blame for very early pickups in North Kingstown — she said some students are stepping onto a bus at 5:55 a.m.

"Ideally, people want to have an 8:30 start (in North Kingstown), but if they (school officials) move it to 8:15 they'd be happy," she said. 

According to the North Kingstown High School website, the first period of the day starts at 7:15 a.m., and students are dismissed at 1:45 p.m.

In Barrington, high school students start their school day at 7:45 a.m., but officials had been working to move that time to 8:30. Earlier this month, members of the school committee approved a proposed budget that included $307,000 to shift the start time to 8:30, but officials learned a few days later that there was a problem and reductions were needed to the proposal.

On Monday, March 6, the school committee met and approved a budget that did not include money for the start time change. Officials are working on a "cost-neutral" proposal, which would reportedly shift the start time to 8:15.

Dr. Lisa Daft, who is involved with the group RI Against Changing Times, said she was not happy when she learned that Ms. Casimiro submitted her proposed legislation.

"I'm not surprised, just disappointed that they want to mandate tax-dollars be spent that way," she said. 

Dr. Daft and some other residents have opposed the start time change in town since it was first discussed more than a year ago. The RIACT website states "Many no cost or low cost initiatives should be considered and evaluated first, before implementing a costly and disruptive change in the community.

"Our belief is that start time changes do not mean the same thing for each community. Each town is unique. Through independent education and research, communities can determine whether or not they will benefit from changing the school start time."

Rep. Joy Hearn wrote a letter this week stating she did not support the legislation, in part, because of "conflicting statewide educational budget needs."

"I strongly believe that there might be other ways to help address student stress that don’t have such a budget impact and urge all stake holders to research and implement them," she wrote.

Meanwhile, Northwest Passage resident Jennifer Ingram wrote in her letter that she could not understand how the town could afford a $68 million middle school, but not a $307,000 start time change initiative.

"While the school committee has indicated that we don’t have money to pay for anything extra — that all of the allotted monies are required just to keep services level — I do not accept that. Anyone who’s managed a $50 million budget knows you can find $300,000," she wrote.

While the issue of school start times has been hotly debated in Barrington over the last year-plus, Ms. Casimiro said she has mostly positive feedback for her proposed legislation. The push-back?

"Well, I've gotten two emails from people in Barrington," she said.