"The morning sleep is the most therapeutic, healthy sleep for teenagers," he told KQED's Forum in 2017. "And what we do as a society, we wake them up in the middle of that healthy sleep and send them to school too early, when they're sleep deprived."

In pushing the bill, Portantino has repeatedly cited a 2014 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that describes an "epidemic" of sleep deprivation among America's middle and high school students.

"Chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common — and easily fixable — public health issues in the U.S. today," wrote pediatrician Judith Owens, the lead author of the School Start Times for Adolescents report, which recommended pushing back school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later.

Roughly 70% of U.S. teenagers don't get anywhere near the recommended nightly minimum of 8.5 hours each night, the report found, noting that the average adolescent in the U.S. is "chronically sleep deprived and pathologically tired."

Such deprivation, sleep researchers argue, can directly impact academic performance and contribute to the prevalence of serious health issues like depression, obesity, diabetes and car crashes — the number one killer of teens in the U.S.

“Studies have shown that delaying early school start times is one key factor that can help adolescents get the sleep they need to grow and learn," Owens wrote. Doing so would align with the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents, whose sleep-wake cycles — or circadian rhythms — shift up to two hours later when puberty begins, she added.

Portantino told Forum that the roughly 400 school districts nationwide that have already pushed back their start times have seen positive results, with boosts in academic performance, attendance and graduation rates, as well as a decrease in car accidents and suicide attempts.





The bill faced strong opposition, particularly among many school districts, school boards and even some teachers and parents who have argued that scheduling decisions should be made at a local level, given the diverse needs of each community. The delayed schedule will likely lead to lengthy renegotiations with teacher unions and could also require additional funding for the necessary changes in bus transportation.