yep we had 7am start times. wake up at 5:30am then wait for the school bus. i think they've pushed back to 8am or even 9am lately

For many students, this is a necessity, as they work after school.

What would be cruel would be depriving these students of work opportunities because some students don't need the income and can afford to sleep in.

I have a possibly dumb question. Wouldn't those students also be better off? They work the same number of hours, but later in the day. Unless it's the kind of thing that can't be one hour later?

The kinds of jobs available to typical high school students such as food service work and babysitting tend to start earlier in the day (in my experience). Food service jobs often start around 4:00 to beat the evening rush, and babysitting can start whenever the kids get out of school.

Well, then in the babysitting case, the solution is clearly to have school ALSO start later. Might be a bit impractical to coordinate that.

Early start times are because of after-school sports (and other extracurriculars).

So… schoolkids in America are expected to need to work to have sufficient income?

That's terrible.