California legislators recently passed a bill that was signed into law by the Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 14, pushing back start times for both high schools and middle schools. Middle schools are required to start after 8 a.m. and high schools are required to start class at 8:30 a.m. or later starting in 2022.

Supporters of the law claim that it will not only help students sleep more but also be more productive and have better mental health. Because students are more awake and productive from 9 to 10 a.m., supporters argue that the current school start has a 45-minute gap when students are not productive. They argue that students can be more productive early by having schools start later.

These arguments ignore the way teens really live their lives.

Regardless of the shift in school schedule, teens will still spend the same amount of time to complete homework and other activities. 

Sports will take the same amount of time, regardless of the schedule shifting. Student athletes need to practice a certain amount of time each day, often two hours or more. Pushing school start times back would also have to push sports end times back, making students arrive home much later.

Other activities also cannot shorten their time commitments: Robotics needs enough time to prototype and assemble their robot, drama needs enough time to rehearse for the play and paint the background and the marching band needs enough time to practice together to prepare for competitions.

Shifting the school schedule back won’t cut away time for other activities; instead, it will just move extracurriculars back later in the day — and keep students up later at night.

The result is students sleeping in later than they originally would, perhaps causing more sleep loss than if the bill wasn’t passed. At the very least, they won’t be getting more sleep.

Legislators should have better things to do than mandate school start times. If they really want to help teens, they should tackle issues such as minimizing homework loads.