More high school students have to get up before the cock crows, forcing them to get fueled up on coffee and energy drinks. But while biology may support later school start times for teenagers, economics demand that they remain early risers.
Staggered school start times reduce the number of buses that school districts must maintain. In Edwardsville, Mo., for instance, a staggered, three-tier schedule allows the same fleet of buses to be used more than once in the same morning. Adding the buses necessary to delay start times would cost $2.5 million, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
And while even Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan tweeted last year to “let teens sleep, start school later,” it seems likely that teens will have to wait until college to be able to sleep in.
