The District of Osceola County School Board on Tuesday began a yearlong review of school start times after state lawmakers approved Senate Bill 296, which requires districts to document community input and implementation plans and report start times for elementary, middle and high schools to the Department of Education by June 1, 2026.

Scott Noble, the district’s chief operating officer, presented three routing scenarios and said the district will use town-hall meetings and ParentSquare to collect community feedback before making any formal change. "The requirements of Senate Bill 296 ... have to be, in effect by 06/01/2026," Noble said during the presentation.

The review responds to a state change that bars middle schools from starting earlier than 8:00 a.m. and high schools from starting earlier than 8:30 a.m., unless a district documents community input and provides a rationale to the Department of Education. Noble said the district’s current 2025–26 schedule lists elementary schools starting at 8:20 a.m., K–8/middle starting at 9:30 a.m., and high schools starting at 7:15 a.m.

Noble said the district ran its routing software on three implementation options. Scenario 1 kept a three-tier system and moved high school start times to 8:30 a.m.; it would add an estimated 11 buses, create about 85 late arrivals affecting 38 schools and cost roughly $847,000 per year in additional operating expenses. "It's doable this way, but you're gonna have late students," Noble said.

Scenario 2 shifted tiers so elementary would be first, middle second and high school last. That plan would require about five additional buses and an estimated $385,000 in extra annual operating costs, though the routing runs showed some students could experience significantly later home arrival times.

Scenario 3 would move to a two-tier system (elementary and middle at 8:00 a.m.; high school at 9:30 a.m.). That option would require roughly 96 additional buses on the road and nearly $7.4 million in extra annual operating costs, Noble said, and it produced the largest number of late arrivals and affected schools in the district’s modeling.

District staff told the board the modeling considers time, distance, bus capacity, local geography and ongoing road construction. Officials said the district currently owns 365 buses, of which 307 are active in regular service and 55 are either out of service or slated to be surplus; operating a bus costs about $77,000 per year, officials said, and a typical new bus purchase is roughly $160,000 (more if a lift or special equipment is required).

Board members raised concerns about unintended consequences. Board member Garcia said staff and teachers who hold second jobs or have caregiving responsibilities could be significantly affected. A board member also asked whether students’ after-school jobs and athletic schedules could be pushed later; Noble and other staff flagged later dismissal times, impacts on after-school care and safety concerns for younger students traveling earlier in darker hours as items to study.

Board members asked about the required public input. Noble told the board there is no minimum numeric threshold for participation: "Just input in general," he said, when asked whether the district must reach a target number of respondents. Dr. Shanoff said the district will solicit feedback from students, parents, staff and other stakeholders and will not limit the outreach to board meetings alone.

Next steps, as described to the board, include further routing analysis (staff estimated a team of four to five would need roughly one to two weeks to clean and test routing data), expanded community outreach using town halls and ParentSquare, and preparing the required documentation for the Department of Education by the June 1, 2026 deadline. No formal motion or vote occurred at Tuesday’s workshop; the item was presented for study and public-input planning.