Federal Legislation

On Wednesday Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren will introduce the federal Zzz’s to A’s Bill asking for a national study of school start times. Please contact your House representative and ask him or her to co-sponsor the bill. A national study can help guide local decisions by making sure that local decisions are INFORMED decisions. You can find your representative via this link: http://www.house.gov/ and you can contact your representative by phone call or online submissions. You will want to address your concern as an educational issue. The deadline for original co-sponsors is end of business Tuesday March 3rd, although support is welcomed at any time after the 3rd. Your representative merely needs to contact Zoe Lofgren’s education aide Angela Ebiner at (202) 225-3072 or email Angela.Ebiner@mail.house.gov to become a co-sponsor. Also take a moment to contact our Senators and ask for a Senate companion bill: http://www.senate.gov/ It is good to use your own wording, but feel free to copy or edit from below: As an educated voter I am asking you to co-sponsor the Zzz’s to A’s Bill calling for a national study of school start times. The most sleep-deprived age group in America is adolescents, and attention to this public health concern is needed. Because of the later shift in sleep cycle that occurs during puberty, a primary contributor to adolescent sleep loss is early school start times, and later school start times is a non-partisan issue widely supported by health, education, and economic professionals including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Education Commission of the States. Chronic sleep loss is associated with depression, risk-taking, car crashes, more aggressive forms of cancer, poorer learning, sports injuries, suicide, school-based violence, substance abuse, obesity, and diabetes – thus it is financially and medically risky to ignore this issue. Our children deserve the investment of a national study that can guide informed local decisions. You can contact Zoe Lofgren's education aide Angela Ebiner at (202) 225-3072 or email Angela.Ebiner@mail.house.gov.