Seminole County school start times likely to remain the same next year, despite state push

Seminole County Public Schools is expected to keep its school start times the same for the 2026-27 school year, despite state law requiring high school and middle school aged students to start classes later in the day. 

School board members got a recommendation at a workshop Feb. 3 to apply for a waiver from a 2023 state law requiring high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle schools to start no earlier than 8 a.m. 

School system leaders expressed concern that they couldn’t meet that standard without forcing elementary school children to start the day earlier. To keep the current level of buses and drivers that could mean some elementary students would be catching their morning bus as early as 6:30 a.m.

“That presents a lot of concerns and, understandably, safety concerns for our youngest students, who could be at bus stops well before daylight,” said Mark Mullins, the assistant superintendent of operations for SCPS. 

The current school start times at Seminole County Public Schools are: 

• Elementary schools: Classes start at 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m., varying by school, and end between 2:20 p.m. and 3:03 p.m.
• Middle schools: 9:30 a.m. to 4:05 p.m.
• High schools: 7:20 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.
  • 7:10 AM – 2:10 PM (2 schools)
• Alternative schools
  • 7:05 a.m. to 1:05 p.m. (3 schools)
  • 7:25 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (2 schools)
  • 7:45 a.m. to  1 p.m. (1 school)

The school board considered starting elementary schools at 7:50 a.m., but because the district is short on drivers, buses can pick students up anywhere from 60 to 100 minutes before school starts.

SCPS currently has a fleet of 305 buses, with 268 drivers. One option the school board considered was adding enough buses and drivers to have elementary schools start at the same time as high schools. 

But that would require the school district to buy 144 new school buses, at $190,000 a piece, for a total of $27 million. Additionally, the school would need an additional 181 new bus drivers, which would cost about $7 million annually. 

The Florida Legislature passed a bill in 2023 that required schools to change their start times. But in 2025, lawmakers repealed it, realizing that changing the school start times at the state level had unintended consequences.  The state is now mulling a softer approach to the problem of students waking too early.

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School Board Member Kristine Kraus said initially the idea to start high schools later sounded like a smart idea to her, and she recommended a study under a previous superintendent. 

“I thought it sounded good that our kids would get more sleep,” Kraus said. “After the deep dive and so forth, it is clear that it is not. Our current bussing, because we bus our magnet students, is not fully covered. We do that so that opportunity is available for every student.”

The Florida Board of Education meets Feb. 20, and is expected to finalize rules allowing for exemptions. The final item would still need board approval and to be submitted. 

“My recommendation would be to move forward with filing the June 1 document to keep our start times as is,” said SCPS Superintendent Serita Beamon. 

Ed commissioner warns of possible walkouts

Possible student demonstrations and walkouts over Immigrations and Customs Enforcement actions also bubbled up at Tuesday’s board meeting. 

Thousands of Minneapolis residents have been protesting after two citizens were killed by ICE agents in recent weeks. Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to all schools in Florida, saying that students whose protests violate district policy should be punished. 

“Students retain constitutional rights to free expression, including the ability to engage in peaceful protest, when such expression complies with the applicable law and school district policy,” the letter reads. “Any student whose actions are to the contrary should be appropriately disciplined. Districts have a responsibility to ensure that any protest activity does not interrupt instructional time, school operations, and campus safety.”

Kamoutsas went further in his post on X sharing the letter. 

“We will not tolerate educators encouraging school protests and pushing their political views onto students, especially ones that disparage law enforcement,” Kamoutsas wrote. 

Walkouts are being planned by students in Seminole County, with a possible date of Feb. 13. Pegi Smith, the new chair of the Seminole County chapter of Moms for Liberty, asked the board to clarify its policy on student walkouts. 

“Teachers, we’re not paying them to teach kids how to protest,” Smith said. “I think one of the concerns for parents was how are we to know if teachers are encouraging or promoting or helping students participate in these walkouts or protests?”

United Way looks to fund Seminole County’s first Community Partnership school

The school board also saw a presentation from the Heart of Florida United Way about working on what’s called a Community Partnership School at Midway Elementary in Sanford. 

The school board is expected to vote on a Memorandum of Understanding between SCPS, United Way, Seminole State College and True Health at its board meeting in March. The idea is to provide students at Midway Elementary with more wraparound services, from health care to nutrition classes to career pathways for students and parents. 

“The next steps would be at the next board meeting; we would have a (Memorandum of Understanding) that is agreeable with all of the pillar partners before the board, and would then start moving forward for planning for 26-27 (school year),” Superintendent Beamon said. 

Kelly Astro, senior vice president of community impact for United Way, said the nonprofit is prepared to fund the program for the next decade, even as it looks for grant opportunities. She said the group focuses on a key household demographic, known as “asset-limited, income-constrained, employed,” or ALICE. 

United Way is looking for groups who want to help students and families at Midway. 

“We are always going to be looking for partners who want to engage in this kind of work and make a difference for the students and families at Midway Elementary,” Astro said. 

She said the program would have ripple effects outside of the school. 

“The more education that individuals can receive, the more wrap-around services that help them feel more secure, it moves them from being worried about how the lights are kept on, or just being slightly paycheck to paycheck, to beginning to build some kind of savings and a little bit more stability for themselves and for their families,” Astro said. “And so long-term, it really helps to grow and create a more stable economy for Seminole County.”

In other news, the school board: 

• Finalized an agreement to build three sand volleyball courts at Oviedo High School. The courts will cost $184,697 to build, and the school has gotten a donation to help cover $100,000 worth of the cost. Oviedo High School’s girls’ volleyball team won the state championship last November, as written in the Orlando Sentinel. 
• Approved a $35 million contract to build a new building at Bear Lake Elementary School in Forest City. The project would build a 95,000 square-foot, two-story building to house the administration, dining services, media center, classrooms and support spaces. It would also include the demolition of buildings 1-6 and 8-12, and renovation of building 13.
• Announced an event with the Orlando Magic to celebrate the Seminole County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Christie Rey.