Oh, it's ridiculous, and a pretty well known reason for anyone who has studied US public education. Here is one such article: https://www.theatlantic.com/educ

Oh, it's ridiculous, and a pretty well known reason for anyone who has studied US public education. Here is one such article: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/how-school-start-times-affect-high-school-athletics/522537/ https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/how-sc... You'll find case after case of local newspapers reporting on school board meetings where requests to move the start time were met with fierce opposition by athletic directors, etc. Both my parents were educators (my mom ran special education for a school district, my father ended his career as Dean of the School of Ed @ Edinboro) and for a time I ran the countries top education blog. All three of us encountered this obstacle to sensible school scheduling across a variety of different schools and districts. I'd say it's the leading obstacle that I've seen when you look at local district opposition.