One thing that always gets lost in this debate: School starts WAY too early. There's no law of nature requiring 5-year-olds to be in class by 7:30 a.m., which is obscene. Instead of making everyone endure 4:45 p.m. sunsets, just...send kids to school later.
Tom Cotton
@SenTomCotton
Oct 3
No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter. Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first.

Oct 3, 2026 · 7:55 PM UTC

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Replying to @billybinion
In my school district, there are four bus waves. HS goes first, and starts school at 7:25. Then middle school starts around 8. Then the first half of elementary schools start at 8:35 and the final elementary schools start at 9:10. One problem with moving the start times later for high school is sports. It gets dark in the northeast at around 4:30 to 5:00 in the winter. So if you want cross-country or football, you need to end school early so there can be practices and meets. For football, some fields do have lights, but it's a very contentious issue. Greenwich, CT has been involved in over 100 lawsuits about appropriate times to use their lights - as the neighbors are extremely litigous about turning on the overhead lights. For a while, Greenwich did start later, but the lights were a real issue. They have since moved their start times back. wtnh.com/news/connecticut/fa…

School board revives legal battle over athletic field lights

A Connecticut school board is gearing up to revive a legal battle to expand lighting at athletic fields.

wtnh.com
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This is interesting to me! Thanks for sharing. I'm surprised HS goes first. But doesn't that kinda undercut the argument against late sunrises? A 16-year-old waiting for a bus in the dark is hardly worrisome, while I understand why someone doesn't want their 5-year-old doing that
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Replying to @billybinion
And then they wouldn't have to let the elementary kids out at 3pm either, which is a silly time to let them out.
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Had the same thought. That’s not good for parents either!
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Replying to @billybinion
I say this not having had little ones … I presume the 7:30 starts are driven by the need of working parents to drop them off and get to work. But agree it’s early. I believe I clocked in at 8:15 but it’s been a minute 😅
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The idea of being anywhere at 7:30 pains me lol
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Replying to @billybinion
Call him,
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I kind of can't believe this is an option lol. We're living in Veep.
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Replying to @billybinion
Homeschool your kids. It’ll solve a lot more than just daylight savings time! @PatriotPlea
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Replying to @billybinion @mehdirhasan
The “law of nature” that requires kids to go to school before 8am is that parents have to be at work by then. Make work start times after 9:30am and Daylight Savings Time works. I just don’t see that happening in these United States.
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Replying to @billybinion
School starts early because work starts early. What are parents gonna do with their kids if school starts after they already have to be in the office? Agree the timing is awful, but this is why.
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Replying to @billybinion
For God sakes DST is not the real time. No matter what kind of schedule voodoo we try, it doesn’t negate that we live the majority of our lives in an artificial clock setting
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Replying to @billybinion
Completely agree. A tired child can't be curious or happy. And honestly, both matter more than being punctual for a 7:30 bell.
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Replying to @billybinion
9am - 4pm would be much better for kids.
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Replying to @billybinion
That makes no sense. So now not only are we destroying our health by having the sunrise hours after we wake up but now we’re just going to start school and everyone’s jobs at 10 AM so when we get home it’s still..checks notes…. dark
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Replying to @billybinion
School starts early so it can coincide with work start hours of parents and it can facilitate many hours of after-school activities.
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Replying to @billybinion
Sure, start school a 10 am. LOL. Opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one. Stating school time is not a national question--every district decided for itself.
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Replying to @billybinion
That only works in a world of stay-at-home moms. If both parents work (or even if a substantial minority of both parents work), kids will get punished with early start times.
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Replying to @billybinion
Abolish public schools, homeschooling can do in two hours a day what the state fails to do in eight. Abolish daylight savings. I don't care what number is on the clock when the sun rises and sets, I just don't want the clock jumping around because of some twat's desire to go butterfly netting after work.
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Replying to @billybinion
So everyone would still be in the same boat...parents, kids, schools and their workers...driving home in the dark because we started school late so that we might 'enjoy more daylight in the evening'. 😆
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Replying to @billybinion
Goody. Then their parents will need to go into work later, so the kids will start at nine rather than eight, mom and /or dad will start at ten, the kids will get out at 4 and get picked up from daycare at 6-and what, exactly, have you managed to accomplish other than making golfers happy?
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Replying to @billybinion
Suspect one of the two following statements are true: 1) @billybinion has no school aged children or 2) @billybinion's children have a SAHM whose primary daily duty is getting children safely to and from school Late start rarely works for working families.
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Replying to @billybinion
Maybe the children can do like 4 or 5 hours of school, since the teachers just send them home with homework anyway.
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Replying to @billybinion
What about this: people learn that depending on the time of year and location, the sun is either out more or less. People that think politicians control the amount of daylight hours maybe shouldn’t be voting
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Replying to @billybinion
It’s so parents can get to work at 8:00, which is entirely normal
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Replying to @billybinion
Send kids to school by whom? The kids need to get dropped off before work started, so if you want to push schools later, work need to start later too. Things are interconnected in our world.
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Replying to @billybinion
Micromanaging school start times is not a legitimate interest of Congress, period. The clock should just be the clock, and local school boards can decide whether to vary school start times based on the season.
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Replying to @billybinion
I'm pretty sure it's a old holdover from when children had to be home in time with enough light to help with farm chores
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Replying to @billybinion
I guess you've never worked construction.
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Replying to @billybinion
In particular teenagers are negatively affected by the early start times and studies show learning improves with later start time for them due to the natural circadian rhythm of teenagers not making them tired till around 11 PM.
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Replying to @billybinion
It basically would be dark at nine. This is moronic. Sun would rise at 8:20 in New York and 8:51 in Minneapolis in early January.
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Replying to @billybinion
What is the reason the children go to school at 7:30? It's because their parents go to work. Pushing school and work later defeats the purposes of the golf lobbyist and chambers of commerce lobbyists pushing this nonsense. They want your day to start before sunrise so you'll want to shop or get in 9 holes between work and sunset. They don't care if it makes you less healthy, more stressed, and sleep deprived. They can KMA.
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Replying to @billybinion
No. What’s getting lost Is the fact that daylight savings time is a made up time. Standard time matches our natural circadian rhythm. Permanent daylight savings time has been tried over and over. It failed in 1974. It failed in Russia in 2011 to 2014 and they are now on permanent standard time. Arizona and Hawaii are both on standard time. We need to stay on permanent standard time.
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