Welcome to Start School Later Greater Austin, TX!

The Greater Austin chapter of Start School Later includes the growing metroplex of Round Rock, Georgetown and San Marcos. All Austin-area high schools start at 8:20 a.m. or later (e.g., San Marcos H.S. at 8:20 a.m., Round Rock H.S. at 9:05 a.m., Westlake H.S. at 8:50 a.m.). Although area middle schools start around 8:30 a.m., Austin's elementary schools' early start times (before 8 a.m.) are cause for action.

Eanes ISD and Lake Travis ISD recently changed their elementary school start times to earlier. The districts needed to meet the 75,600 minutes of instructional time required by the state so five minutes were added to each school day ... in the morning! Now, elementary schools start at 7:40 a.m. and one school starts at 7:35 a.m.​, which is 10 minutes earlier than 2016-2017. 

Start School Later advocates that no child should have to walk, wait at bus stops, ride their bikes, or drive to school before civil twilight. Because the majority of elementary schools in the Greater Austin area require students to be at school at 8 a.m., many young students are commuting in the dark. In fact, Bluebonnet Elementary School in Bastrop ISD has a bus pickup time of 5:35 a.m.!

To join the Greater Austin chapter, get news for local events, request more information or to get involved please fill out the form on this page or like us on Facebook.

Read Austin Chapter Leader Alexandra Wharton Spencer's testimony to the Texas Senate Education Committee on April 4, 2018