The mission of the Central Time Coalition is to promote the allocation of available sunlight and darkness in a manner that provides the greatest peace, safety and well-being to the citizens of Indiana. Specifically, we support Central Standard Time in winter and Central Daylight Time the remainder of the year.

CENTRAL TIME – INDIANA’S RIGHT TIME

NEWS

2013 LEGISLATION – The CT Coalition has requested the 2013 General Assembly to “establish a legislative study committee to conduct an objective evaluation of the consequences of the Eastern and Central Time Zone designations in Indiana as they affect all Hoosiers.” Many conditions have changed since 1966 when 80% of Indiana was moved from Central to Eastern – transportation, delivery of goods and people, business and personal communications, safety issues for students as a by-product of school consolidation, etc. Indiana’s time zone issues have never been vetted. We are calling for our elected officials to honor their promise to make decisions that protect Hoosiers’ rights to “peace, safety and well-being” by examining Indiana’s time zone situation and separating fact from fiction. Learn more here.

INDIANA FARM BUREAU VOTES TO SUPPORT CENTRAL TIME - At their annual policy meeting held in August 2012, the Indiana Farm Bureau voted to support Central Time for all of Indiana. Indiana agriculture and agribusiness interact with the Chicago commodity market and suppliers located primarily in the Central Time Zone. A concern voiced was safety for rural school children as the result of morning darkness.

PETITIONS

Petitions in support of Central Time for Indiana have been signed by approx. 20,000 Hoosiers, 35+ school boards, and over 100 businesses. You can add your name by signing the online petition on this website. You can also help gather signatures by printing the petition and signature pages from this website and mailing them in as instructed. Learn more here

BROCHURE

The Central Time brochure is a handy document to forward by email or print and hand out. It explains why Central Time is Indiana’s Right Time.  click here.

OPINIONS

IS CENTRAL TIME A POLITICAL ISSUE? NO!  It is a “people” issue that affects all Hoosiers, regardless of political affiliation or age. Support for Central Time comes from Republicans, Democrats, members of all political parties and all age groups.

COALITION’S POSITION  -  Indiana’s split time situation is divisive. Time confusion costs money in missed meetings, appointments, deadlines, etc. Scheduling school, social, and community events is especially difficult for thousands of Hoosier families living in Indiana’s 17 counties that are split by the time zone boundary. Eastern Time has proven to be unsafe for Indiana’s school children and detrimental to their educational well-being. Eastern’s excessive number of school delays wastes money intended for educating students and undermines the quality of education. Eastern is the wrong time zone for Indiana businesses. Sixty one percent of Indiana’s exports are shipped to time zones west of us. While a 1-hour time gap causes minor inconveniences, the 3-hour, year-round time gap between Indiana and the West Coast is a major deterrent to conducting business. Central Time is Indiana’s Hoosier-friendly and business-friendly time zone.

INFORMATION

GEOGRAPHY -  Time zones established by the railroads in1883 and officially adopted in the Standard Time Act of 1918, are based on the location of the sun. The solar divide between Central and Eastern is the 82.5 longitude that runs 25 miles east of Columbus, Ohio. Indiana’s original and geographically correct zone is the Central Time Zone. Eastern’s unbalanced sunlight schedule in Indiana results in abnormally dark mornings. Learn more here

LATE SUNSETS -  Late sunsets make bedtime difficult and often result in sleep deprived students who are not alert at school and frequently ill prepared. Late sunsets in summer diminish many darkness-dependent experiences that have been part of our Hoosier heritage – July 4th fireworks, evening concerts, campfires, youth and family camping, outdoor movies, seeing the stars and lightning bugs. Learn more here

SAFETY -  Darkness is dangerous for pedestrians. Eastern’s excessively late sunrises in Indiana force students to walk along dark streets the majority of the school year - or to wait at dark bus stops while inexperienced teens drive on dark streets to get to school. School buses begin picking up students at 6:30 a.m. all over Indiana and deliver most students to their homes by 4 p.m. Sunrise in Indiana’s Eastern Time counties is as late as 8:20 a.m. On Central Time the latest sunrise would be around 7:20 a.m. and the majority of travel to and from school would occur in daylight. Learn more here.

INDIANA’S TIME ZONE HISTORY -  The US Constitution assigned regulation of commerce to Congress, which, in turn, delegated it to USDOT. Two Indiana governors have requested time zone decisions from USDOT. In 1967, Governor Branigin requested that USDOT unite all of Indiana in its historical Central Time Zone. Learn more here  In 2005, Indiana’s General Assembly directed Governor Daniels to petition USDOT to hold hearings to determine the best location of Indiana’s time zone boundary. Learn more here .  USDOT refused to hold hearings because “The General Assembly and Governor did not take a position on where the boundary should be.” Instead, they offered to accept petitions from counties and gave counties a 35 day deadline to get petitions submitted. Learn more here.  It is obvious that USDOT considers it the state’s responsibility to determine what is right for its citizens before coming to them with a time zone boundary change. The Central Time Coalition agrees. We also think that the county-by-county approach is very wrong for Indiana. It pits county against adjacent county – an approach that has proven to be very divisive. Indiana’s time zone situation is a state-wide issue that affects all Hoosiers, not just a single county.

SCHOOL DELAYS WASTE MONEY  - At the rate of $7 per student per hour, school delays waste money intended for education while students and teachers wait at home for the weather to clear. In the 2010-11 school year, delays in Indiana’s Eastern Time counties wasted over $59 million. Already in the 2012-13 school year, 90 fog delays have been called (mid-Aug. & Sept. 31) for a total of $2.65 million wasted to-date this year. An extra hour of sunlight would reduce Indiana’s excessive numbers of 2-hour delays by one hour and could eliminate them altogether. Because our neighboring state of Illinois is in its correct time zone, school delays aren’t permitted. Schools can operate without them. Learn more here

EASTERN TIME UNDERMINING EDUCATION  - (title change from School Performance) Circadian rhythms regulate the 24-hr. cycle of waking and sleeping. Studies prove that when civil clocks are out of sync with biological clocks (as in Indiana’s Eastern Time counties) students have impaired school performance. Learn more here.  On delay days, each class period is shortened. Tests and laboratory classes can’t be held. Teachers consider delay-days wasted educationally. Eastern Time in Indiana is an unrecognized culprit that is undermining education in Indiana. Learn more here

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME VS. TIME ZONES = CONFUSION  - Prior to 2006, Indiana didn’t observe daylight saving time in the 80 Eastern Time counties, and for seven months each year (spring/summer/fall) all Hoosiers were united on the same time – “Chicago time” (Central Daylight Time). During winter the Eastern Time counties were on “New York time” (Eastern Standard Time) and the Central Time counties were on Central Standard Time. Being out of sync with the rest of the US caused confusion outside of Indiana that was considered detrimental to Indiana’s economic health. Thus, daylight saving time for the Eastern Time counties was approved by the General Assembly and went into effect March 2006. Now Indiana is permanently split year-round into two different time zones and confusion reigns within Indiana about “what time it is”. Learn more here

INDIANA TIME ZONE WHITE PAPER -  Released on Nov. 3, 2011, this thoroughly researched and documented white paper examines the history of Indiana time decisions and raises major questions about the processes. To access this report go to: http://sites.google.com/site/stjosephtimezone/

"TIME CHANGE: THE DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS” By Dr. John Gaski, Ph.D. Notre Dame professor, was published in the Indiana Policy Review, Summer 2011. To learn how “so many people got something so important so wrong”. Learn more here.