JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The superintendent of Duval County Public Schools called on parents Thursday evening to talk to their legislators about a new law.

The law is House Bill 733, which changes middle and high school start times for the 2026-2027 school year. 

“We’re asking for more local control over this,” said Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier at a superintendent town hall at Highlands Middle School. 

Parents tell First Coast News they are worried the law could mean walking their children to school in the dark, disruptions to after school activities and disruptions to parents’ work schedules.

The law requires high schools to start at or after 8:30 a.m., which is more than an hour later than they start now in Duval County. The law also requires middle schools start at or after 8:00. There is no requirement for elementary schools.

Bernier said they have different scenarios that range from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to start the school day. He said there needs to be about an hour between start times for schools due to busing.

“That means earlier start times for elementary, potentially very late times for our high school students,” Bernier told First Coast News. “We don’t think our community’s fully aware and we’re asking them to reach out to the lawmakers who worked on that bill.”

The law mentions health and academic impacts of sleep deprivation as a reason for the new school start times. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine wrote a letter to the governor in support of the law when it was signed in 2023. The organization says teenagers need eight to 10 hours of sleep every night.

Stockton Elementary School mother Laura Garcia brought up the size of Duval County as an issue that sets it apart.

“With school choice, my whole understanding of the reason we do that is because education is different, everybody needs different things,” she said. “So it seems weird that the state’s coming and putting a blanket statement on all these schools need to follow this set start time.”

Parents at Thursday’s town hall like Yasmina White said they were listening when Bernier urged them to talk to their legislators. First Coast News asked White if she planned on doing that.

“Oh yeah, absolutely and just organizing other parents to do the same,” she said.

First Coast News reached out Thursday evening to the legislators who sponsored the law when it was a bill, but did not hear back before air time.

The next superintendent town hall is at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, at Chaffee Trail Middle School