The school day for secondary students in Pennsylvania could not start earlier than 8:15 a.m. under legislation a state representative from Murrysville intends to introduce.

If passed into law, the requirement would start with the 2026-27 school year, state Rep. Jill Cooper said in a memorandum seeking co-sponsors for her proposal.

In her memo, Cooper cited an October 2019 Pennsylvania report, “Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents: A Case for Delaying Secondary School Start Times,” which highlighted the need for delayed school start times.

“There is a consensus in the medical community that a public health crisis exists in the form of an epidemic of chronic sleep loss and daytime sleepiness in adolescents,” Cooper wrote. “The U.S. Department of Health’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health has made sufficient sleep for high school students an objective of their Healthy People 2020 Program, and the National Sleep Foundation notes the consequences of sleep deprivation during teenage years are especially serious.”

Cooper, a Republican, won election in November to represent the new 55th District, which spans 15 communities across about 180 square miles of northern Westmoreland County.

In Pennsylvania, school districts determine their start times, said Taj Magruder, a spokesperson for the state Department of Education.

There are organizations, such as Start School Later, that advocate for later start times. Start School Later has a chapter in Western Pennsylvania.

Cooper said research shows adolescents who do not get enough sleep are more likely to suffer from physical and mental health problems, are more likely to decline in academic performance and are at an increased risk of being involved in car crashes.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended that adolescents 13 to 18 years of age get eight to 10 hours of sleep per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended secondary schools aim for start times that allow students to receive the recommended amount of sleep, Cooper said in the memo.

In addition to mandating start times no earlier than 8:15 a.m., Cooper’s proposed legislation would require school boards to inform communities about the health and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on secondary school students and the benefits of a later school star time, and to discuss local strategies to implement a delayed school start time.

In June, Pittsburgh Public Schools adopted new, later start times for students beginning in the 2023-24 academic year.

In 2019, California became the first state to mandate later school start times, with middle schools beginning classes no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m.