New California Law Looks To Relieve Homework Stress For Students

Maybe you’ve been boggled by the amount of homework your kindergartener has been assigned, or felt your high schooler’s pain as they trudge through an hour-long assignment for each of their 5 classes. Any parent who’s had to explain long division after 8 p.m. can attest to the fact that hours upon hours of homework is no fun. That’s why a new California law is looking to tackle the issue of homework stress for its students.

California assemblymember Pilar Schiavo introduced “The Healthy Homework Act” last year, inspired by her middle school daughter’s staggering homework load.

“Homework is exhausting. It’s overwhelming,” Schiavo’s daughter, sixth-grader Sofia Johnson, told Fox40. “It’s depressing that my whole day from when I wake up to when I go to bed is taken up doing school work.”

The act was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024, and will go into effect this year.

The new legislation doesn’t ban homework — sorry, California students. But it’s intended to encourage school boards to consider the strain hours of homework place on student’s physical and mental health, by compelling the California Department of Education to establish guidelines for homework, and requiring school districts to create homework policies by 2027.

Homework stress is a serious issue affecting students. When testifying in support of the bill, Stanford lecturer and co-founder of the education non-profit Challenge Success Dr. Denise Pope shared that a survey conducted by the nonprofit found that 45 percent of students said that their top stressor was school workload and homework. California students surveyed reported an average of 2.5 hours of homework every night, on top of the 6 hours a day spent at school.

Schiavo said that student stress is not something to be brushed aside.

“I just toured a school in my district where they talked about how they are trying to reduce the kids who are missing school or dropping out of school. The top reason they hear is because kids are getting behind,” Schiavo said. “They just get into a hole when you miss homework. You have homework the next day, you are trying to catch up from the old homework — too much homework can overwhelm them.”

Schiavo explained that the new law is also intended to address educational inequities, like low-income and rural students who lack access to high-speed internet at home.

As the law comes into effect, California students, parents, and teachers will hopefully see a positive impact on student’s stress levels.