Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB468 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	sb0468
6	6
7	7	SENATE BILL 468
8	8	F1 5lr3254
9	9	CF 5lr2016
10	10	By: Senator Benson
11	11	Introduced and read first time: January 22, 2025
12	12	Assigned to: Education, Energy, and the Environment
13	13
14	14	A BILL ENTITLED
15	15
16	16	AN ACT concerning 1
17	17
18	18	Public Middle, High, and Charter Schools – Start Time for Instruction 2
19	19
20	20	FOR the purpose of requiring, beginning in a certain school year, each public middle school 3
21	21	and each public high school to begin instruction not earlier than certain times unless 4
22	22	granted a waiver by the State Board of Education under certain circumstances; 5
23	23	requiring each county board of education and each public charter school to 6
24	24	implement a certain public service campaign to raise awareness on sleep deprivation 7
25	25	and later school start times; and generally relating to the start time of instruction in 8
26	26	public middle, high, and charter schools. 9
27	27
28	28	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 10
29	29	Article – Education 11
30	30	Section 7–103 12
31	31	Annotated Code of Maryland 13
32	32	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 14
33	33
34	34	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 15
35	35	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 16
36	36
37	37	Article – Education 17
38	38
39	39	7–103. 18
40	40
41	41	(a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (e), [and] (f), AND (G) of this section, 19
42	42	each public school under the jurisdiction of a county board: 20
43	43
44	44	(1) (i) Shall be open for pupil attendance for at least 180 actual school 21
45	45	days and a minimum of 1,080 school hours during a 10–month period in each school year; 22
46	46	or 23
47	47	2 SENATE BILL 468
48	48
49	49
50	50	(ii) If normal school attendance is prevented because of conditions 1
51	51	described in subsection (b) of this section, shall be open for at least 1,080 hours during a 2
52	52	10–month period; 3
53	53
54	54	(2) Shall be open for pupil attendance a minimum of 3 hours during each 4
55	55	school day; 5
56	56
57	57	(3) BEGINNING IN THE 2027–2028 SCHOOL YEAR : 6
58	58
59	59	(I) FOR A MIDDLE SCHOOL , SHALL BEGIN INSTRUCT ION NOT 7
60	60	EARLIER THAN 8 A.M.; AND 8
61	61
62	62	(II) FOR A HIGH SCHOOL , SHALL BEGIN INSTRUCT ION NOT 9
63	63	EARLIER THAN 8:30 A.M.; and 10
64	64
65	65	[(3)] (4) May not be open on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays in order to 11
66	66	meet the 180–day or 1,080–hour requirement of this subsection. 12
67	67
68	68	(b) (1) If a county board submits a written application to the State Board that 13
69	69	describes a demonstrated effort by the county board to comply with subsection (a) of this 14
70	70	section, the State Board may [permit] ALLOW: 15
71	71
72	72	(i) The following adjustments: 16
73	73
74	74	1. An increase in the length of the school year; or 17
75	75
76	76	2. A decrease in the length of the school year; 18
77	77
78	78	(ii) Exceptions from the requirement that the school year be 19
79	79	completed within a 10–month period; 20
80	80
81	81	(iii) Adjustments in the length of the school day; and 21
82	82
83	83	(iv) Schools to be open on holidays. 22
84	84
85	85	(2) [These] THE adjustments UNDER PARAGRAPH (1) OF THIS 23
86	86	SUBSECTION may be granted only if normal school attendance is prevented because of: 24
87	87
88	88	(i) [Natural] A NATURAL disaster; 25
89	89
90	90	(ii) [Civil] A CIVIL disaster; or 26
91	91
92	92	(iii) Severe weather conditions. 27
93	93	SENATE BILL 468 3
94	94
95	95
96	96	(3) Education funding from State or local sources may not be reduced if 1
97	97	there are less than 180 school days in any year because of an approved application under 2
98	98	paragraph (1)(i)2 of this subsection. 3
99	99
100	100	(4) In case of emergency, the State Board may open schools on holidays. 4
101	101
102	102	(c) (1) The following days are public school holidays: 5
103	103
104	104	(i) Thanksgiving Day and the day after; 6
105	105
106	106	(ii) Christmas Eve [and from then] through January 1, INCLUSIVE; 7
107	107
108	108	(iii) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; 8
109	109
110	110	(iv) Presidents’ Day; 9
111	111
112	112	(v) The Friday before Easter [and from then] through the Monday 10
113	113	after Easter, INCLUSIVE; 11
114	114
115	115	(vi) Memorial Day; and 12
116	116
117	117	(vii) Primary and general election days. 13
118	118
119	119	(2) If the federal and State observances of a holiday are on different days, 14
120	120	the board of education of each county shall determine which date shall be the date of 15
121	121	observance for the public schools within the county. 16
122	122
123	123	(3) The public schools shall devote a part of at least one day to appropriate 17
124	124	exercises for each of the following: 18
125	125
126	126	(i) Washington’s Birthday; 19
127	127
128	128	(ii) Lincoln’s Birthday; 20
129	129
130	130	(iii) Veterans’ Day; 21
131	131
132	132	(iv) Columbus Day; 22
133	133
134	134	(v) Arbor Day; 23
135	135
136	136	(vi) Black History Month, with an emphasis on Harriet Tubman and 24
137	137	Frederick Douglass and the contributions they made in the fight against slavery; and 25
138	138
139	139	(vii) Any other day of national significance. 26
140	140	4 SENATE BILL 468
141	141
142	142
143	143	(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the public schools, 1
144	144	in the following counties, may remain open and in session on primary and general election 2
145	145	days: 3
146	146
147	147	(i) Calvert; 4
148	148
149	149	(ii) Caroline; 5
150	150
151	151	(iii) Dorchester; 6
152	152
153	153	(iv) Kent; 7
154	154
155	155	(v) Talbot; and 8
156	156
157	157	(vi) Worcester. 9
158	158
159	159	(d) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, the State Board shall 10
160	160	divide the school year into the terms it considers appropriate. 11
161	161
162	162	(e) (1) The county boards of Allegany, Anne Arundel, Calvert, Howard, 12
163	163	Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties, and the Board of School Commissioners of 13
164	164	Baltimore City, may elect to operate one or more schools within the county or Baltimore 14
165	165	City on a year–round basis, provided that the 180–day and the minimum hour 15
166	166	requirements under this section are met. 16
167	167
168	168	(2) Nothing in this section precludes a county board from conducting a 17
169	169	year–round pilot study or program that is funded by the county board. 18
170	170
171	171	(f) Publicly funded half–day prekindergarten programs are not subject to the 19
172	172	requirements of subsection (a) of this section. 20
173	173
174	174	(G) (1) ON REQUEST BY A COUNT Y BOARD, THE STATE BOARD MAY 21
175	175	GRANT A WAIVER TO A MIDDLE SCHOOL OR HIG H SCHOOL TO BEGIN IN STRUCTION 22
176	176	AT A TIME EARLIER TH AN THE TIME SPECIFIE D UNDER SUBSECTION (A)(3) OF THIS 23
177	177	SECTION IF THE STATE BOARD DETERMINES THAT THERE IS A COMPELLIN G 24
178	178	REASON FOR A SCHOOL TO REQUIRE A DIFFERE NT START TIME. 25
179	179
180	180	(2) A LACK OF FUNDING AVAI LABLE FOR ALIGNING T HE START OF 26
181	181	INSTRUCTION WITH THE TIMES SPECIFIED UNDE R SUBSECTION (A)(3) OF THIS 27
182	182	SECTION IS NOT A COM PELLING REASON FOR GRANTIN G A WAIVER UNDER THI S 28
183	183	SUBSECTION. 29
184	184
185	185	[(g)] (H) Notwithstanding any other law and subject only to this section, each 30
186	186	county board annually shall set the start and end dates of the school year for schools in the 31
187	187	county. 32
188	188	SENATE BILL 468 5
189	189
190	190
191	191	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That: 1
192	192
193	193	(a) Beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, and concluding before the start of the 2
194	194	following school year, each county board of education, including Baltimore City, and each 3
195	195	public charter school shall implement a public information campaign to raise awareness of: 4
196	196
197	197	(1) the health, safety, and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on middle 5
198	198	and high school students; 6
199	199
200	200	(2) the student benefits of a later school start time; and 7
201	201
202	202	(3) local strategies that will be used to implement the new start time. 8
203	203
204	204	(b) The public information campaign shall be targeted toward each school’s 9
205	205	community, including parents, teachers, school administrators, coaches, and other 10
206	206	interested parties and shall provide an opportunity for feedback. 11
207	207
208	208	(c) The State Department of Education shall assist a county board of education 12
209	209	or a public charter school with implementation of the public information campaign if the 13
210	210	county board or public charter school requests assistance. 14
211	211
212	212	SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENA CTED, That this Act shall take effect July 15
213	213	1, 2025. 16