BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1772
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1772 (Buchanan) - As Amended: April 11, 2012
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-4
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill, beginning with the 2014-15 school year, requires a
child to complete one year of kindergarten before he or she may
be admitted to first grade.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Due to creation of a new mandate, GF/98 state reimbursable
mandated costs, in the tens of millions to hundreds of
millions, to require children to complete one year of
kindergarten prior to admission to first grade. For example,
a school district that currently enrolls 1,000 kindergarteners
may claim teacher salary costs of approximately $2 million
GF/98 to meet the requirements of this bill.
In addition because this bill creates a mandate for
kindergarten, school districts may seek state reimbursement
for costs associated with establishing kindergarten classes,
including teacher salaries and instructional materials,
regardless if they are currently receive revenue limit
(general purpose) or categorical funding for this purpose. In
an analogous situation, the Commission on State Mandates (CSM)
determined that when the state added the completion of science
classes as a requirement for high school graduation in the
1980s, the state created state reimbursable mandated costs and
districts could claim direct and indirect costs to provide
these classes (regardless if they were already providing these
science classes). According to the Legislative Analyst Office
(LAO), the state owes approximately $2 billion in prior year
claims and approximately $200 million annually for this
mandate.
AB 1772
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2)Even if the CSM does not determine this bill to be a state
reimbursable mandate, there would be increased GF/98 revenue
limit (general purpose) costs of $45.6 million to the state
for increased kindergarten attendance due to the requirement
that all children attend K.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Existing law does not require children to attend
kindergarten. SB 1381 (Simitian), 705, Statutes of 2010
specifies if a child does attend kindergarten, he or she must
be admitted if the child will have his or her fifth birthday
according to the following dates: (a) December 2 of the
2011-12 school year; (b) November 1 of the 2012-13 school
year; (c) October 1 of the 2013-14 school year; and September
1 of the 2014-15 and each school year thereafter.
Existing law also authorizes the governing board of a school
district, on a case-by-case basis and with parent/guardian
approval, to admit a child who is five years old any time
during the school year to kindergarten if specified conditions
exist.
Statute also requires a child to be admitted to first grade,
if he or she will have his or her sixth birthday according to
the following dates: (a) December 2 of the 2011-12 school
year; (b) November 1 of the 2012-13 school year; (c) October 1
of the 2013-14 school year; and (d) September 1 of the 2014-15
school year and each school year thereafter.
Current law requires each person between the age of 6 and 18
years to be subject to full-time compulsory education, unless
otherwise exempted. Each child is required to attend school
full-time or the length of the school day designated by the
governing board of the school district in which the residency
of the parent/legal guardian is located. Likewise, each
parent/guardian is required to send the pupil to school, as
specified.
2)Purpose . According to the author, "Early childhood education
is critical to student success. Parents recognize this and
that is why such a high percentage of students first enroll in
kindergarten. With the state adding Transitional Kindergarten
for five-year- olds born in September, October, and November
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ÝSB 1381 (Simitian), Chapter 705, Statutes of 2010], it is
important both academically and as a policy statement to make
kindergarten mandatory, not optional."
3)Need ? In the 2010-11 school year, 471,918 children were
enrolled in kindergarten and 477,277 children were enrolled in
first grade. According to the State Department of Education
(SDE), less than 5% of children do not attend kindergarten.
Assuming two percent of children enrolled in first grade do
not attend kindergarten, less than 10,000 children are not
attending kindergarten.
Current law does not require children to complete kindergarten
for admission to school and as such, school districts cannot
claim state reimbursable costs for providing kindergarten
instruction. If there are such a small number who are not
attending kindergarten, is there a need to mandate completion
and create a state GF/98 reimbursable mandate?
4)Unpaid K-12 mandates . According to LAO, the state owes
approximately $3.4 billion in K-12 mandate costs for prior
years (not including the high school graduation mandate).
Prior to the 2010 Budget Act, the state deferred mandate
payments for several years with the promise of making the
payments to school districts in future years. As a result,
districts did not received payment for annual services they
were required to conduct.
SB 90 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 7,
Statutes of 2011 allocated $80 million GF/98 to school
districts for annual K-12 mandate costs; the state, however,
still owes school districts for the prior year costs.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081