Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB1015 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	hb1015
6	6
7	7	HOUSE BILL 1015
8	8	F1 5lr2016
9	9	CF SB 468
10	10	By: Delegates Miller, Alston, Arentz, Boafo, Buckel, Fair, Hornberger,
11	11	Hutchinson, T. Morgan, Nkongolo , Otto, Pippy, Roberson, Schmidt,
12	12	Valentine, Vogel, and Wims
13	13	Introduced and read first time: February 3, 2025
14	14	Assigned to: Ways and Means
15	15
16	16	A BILL ENTITLED
17	17
18	18	AN ACT concerning 1
19	19
20	20	Public Middle, High, and Charter Schools – Start Time for Instruction 2
21	21
22	22	FOR the purpose of requiring, beginning in a certain school year, each public middle school 3
23	23	and each public high school to begin instruction not earlier than certain times unless 4
24	24	granted a waiver by the State Board of Education under certain circumstances; 5
25	25	requiring each county board of education and each public charter school to 6
26	26	implement a certain public service campaign to raise awareness on sleep deprivation 7
27	27	and later school start times; and generally relating to the start time of instruction in 8
28	28	public middle, high, and charter schools. 9
29	29
30	30	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 10
31	31	Article – Education 11
32	32	Section 7–103 12
33	33	Annotated Code of Maryland 13
34	34	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 14
35	35
36	36	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 15
37	37	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 16
38	38
39	39	Article – Education 17
40	40
41	41	7–103. 18
42	42
43	43	(a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (e), [and] (f), AND (G) of this section, 19
44	44	each public school under the jurisdiction of a county board: 20
45	45	2 HOUSE BILL 1015
46	46
47	47
48	48	(1) (i) Shall be open for pupil attendance for at least 180 actual school 1
49	49	days and a minimum of 1,080 school hours during a 10–month period in each school year; 2
50	50	or 3
51	51
52	52	(ii) If normal school attendance is prevented because of conditions 4
53	53	described in subsection (b) of this section, shall be open for at least 1,080 hours during a 5
54	54	10–month period; 6
55	55
56	56	(2) Shall be open for pupil attendance a minimum of 3 hours during each 7
57	57	school day; 8
58	58
59	59	(3) BEGINNING IN THE 2027–2028 SCHOOL YEAR : 9
60	60
61	61	(I) FOR A MIDDLE SCHOOL , SHALL BEGIN INSTRUCT ION NOT 10
62	62	EARLIER THAN 8 A.M.; AND 11
63	63
64	64	(II) FOR A HIGH SCHOOL , SHALL BEGIN INSTRUCT ION NOT 12
65	65	EARLIER THAN 8:30 A.M.; and 13
66	66
67	67	[(3)] (4) May not be open on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays in order to 14
68	68	meet the 180–day or 1,080–hour requirement of this subsection. 15
69	69
70	70	(b) (1) If a county board submits a written application to the State Board that 16
71	71	describes a demonstrated effort by the county board to comply with subsection (a) of this 17
72	72	section, the State Board may [permit] ALLOW: 18
73	73
74	74	(i) The following adjustments: 19
75	75
76	76	1. An increase in the length of the school year; or 20
77	77
78	78	2. A decrease in the length of the school year; 21
79	79
80	80	(ii) Exceptions from the requirement that the school year be 22
81	81	completed within a 10–month period; 23
82	82
83	83	(iii) Adjustments in the length of the school day; and 24
84	84
85	85	(iv) Schools to be open on holidays. 25
86	86
87	87	(2) [These] THE adjustments UNDER PARAGRAPH (1) OF THIS 26
88	88	SUBSECTION may be granted only if normal school attendance is prevented because of: 27
89	89
90	90	(i) [Natural] A NATURAL disaster; 28
91	91
92	92	(ii) [Civil] A CIVIL disaster; or 29
93	93	HOUSE BILL 1015 3
94	94
95	95
96	96	(iii) Severe weather conditions. 1
97	97
98	98	(3) Education funding from State or local sources may not be reduced if 2
99	99	there are less than 180 school days in any year because of an approved application under 3
100	100	paragraph (1)(i)2 of this subsection. 4
101	101
102	102	(4) In case of emergency, the State Board may open schools on holidays. 5
103	103
104	104	(c) (1) The following days are public school holidays: 6
105	105
106	106	(i) Thanksgiving Day and the day after; 7
107	107
108	108	(ii) Christmas Eve [and from then] through January 1, INCLUSIVE; 8
109	109
110	110	(iii) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; 9
111	111
112	112	(iv) Presidents’ Day; 10
113	113
114	114	(v) The Friday before Easter [and from then] through the Monday 11
115	115	after Easter, INCLUSIVE; 12
116	116
117	117	(vi) Memorial Day; and 13
118	118
119	119	(vii) Primary and general election days. 14
120	120
121	121	(2) If the federal and State observances of a holiday are on different days, 15
122	122	the board of education of each county shall determine which date shall be the date of 16
123	123	observance for the public schools within the county. 17
124	124
125	125	(3) The public schools shall devote a part of at least one day to appropriate 18
126	126	exercises for each of the following: 19
127	127
128	128	(i) Washington’s Birthday; 20
129	129
130	130	(ii) Lincoln’s Birthday; 21
131	131
132	132	(iii) Veterans’ Day; 22
133	133
134	134	(iv) Columbus Day; 23
135	135
136	136	(v) Arbor Day; 24
137	137
138	138	(vi) Black History Month, with an emphasis on Harriet Tubman and 25
139	139	Frederick Douglass and the contributions they made in the fight against slavery; and 26
140	140
141	141	(vii) Any other day of national significance. 27
142	142	4 HOUSE BILL 1015
143	143
144	144
145	145	(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the public schools, 1
146	146	in the following counties, may remain open and in session on primary and general election 2
147	147	days: 3
148	148
149	149	(i) Calvert; 4
150	150
151	151	(ii) Caroline; 5
152	152
153	153	(iii) Dorchester; 6
154	154
155	155	(iv) Kent; 7
156	156
157	157	(v) Talbot; and 8
158	158
159	159	(vi) Worcester. 9
160	160
161	161	(d) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, the State Board shall 10
162	162	divide the school year into the terms it considers appropriate. 11
163	163
164	164	(e) (1) The county boards of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Howard, 12
165	165	Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties, and the Board of School Commissioners of 13
166	166	Baltimore City, may elect to operate one or more schools within the county or Baltimore 14
167	167	City on a year–round basis, provided that the 180–day and the minimum hour 15
168	168	requirements under this section are met. 16
169	169
170	170	(2) Nothing in this section precludes a county board from conducting a 17
171	171	year–round pilot study or program that is funded by the county board. 18
172	172
173	173	(f) Publicly funded half–day prekindergarten programs are not subject to the 19
174	174	requirements of subsection (a) of this section. 20
175	175
176	176	(G) (1) ON REQUEST BY A COUNTY BOARD, THE STATE BOARD MAY 21
177	177	GRANT A WAIVER TO A MIDDLE SCHOOL OR HIG H SCHOOL TO BEGIN IN STRUCTION 22
178	178	AT A TIME EARLIER TH AN THE TIME SPECIFIE D UNDER SUBSECTION (A)(3) OF THIS 23
179	179	SECTION IF THE STATE BOARD DETERMINES THAT THERE IS A COMPELLING 24
180	180	REASON FOR A SCHOOL TO REQUIRE A DIFFERENT START TI ME. 25
181	181
182	182	(2) A LACK OF FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR ALIGNING THE START OF 26
183	183	INSTRUCTION WITH THE TIMES SPECIFIED UNDER SUBS ECTION (A)(3) OF THIS 27
184	184	SECTION IS NOT A COM PELLING REASON FOR G RANTING A WAIVER UNDER THIS 28
185	185	SUBSECTION. 29
186	186
187	187	[(g)] (H) Notwithstanding any other law and subject only to this section, each 30
188	188	county board annually shall set the start and end dates of the school year for schools in the 31
189	189	county. 32
190	190	HOUSE BILL 1015 5
191	191
192	192
193	193	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That: 1
194	194
195	195	(a) Beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, and concluding before the start of the 2
196	196	following school year, each county board of education, including Baltimore City, and each 3
197	197	public charter school shall implement a public information campaign to raise awareness of: 4
198	198
199	199	(1) the health, safety, and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on middle 5
200	200	and high school students; 6
201	201
202	202	(2) the student benefits of a later school start time; and 7
203	203
204	204	(3) local strategies that will be used to implement the new start time. 8
205	205
206	206	(b) The public information campaign shall be targeted toward each school’s 9
207	207	community, including parents, teachers, school administrators, coaches, and other 10
208	208	interested parties and shall provide an opportunity for feedback. 11
209	209
210	210	(c) The State Department of Education shall assist a county board of education 12
211	211	or a public charter school with implementation of the public information campaign if the 13
212	212	county board or public charter school requests assistance. 14
213	213
214	214	SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 15
215	215	1, 2025. 16
216	216