BILL NUMBER: AB 1719 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Weber and Buchanan
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bonilla)
FEBRUARY 13, 2014
An act to amend Section 37202 of, to amend and repeal
Sections 8973, 46111, 46117, 46118, and 46119 of, and to amend,
repeal, and add Sections 46112 and 46114 of, add and
repeal Section 46116 of the Education Code, relating to
kindergarten.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1719, as amended, Weber. Full-day kindergarten.
Existing law provides that school districts offering kindergarten
may maintain kindergarten classes at different schoolsites for
different lengths of time.
This bill would require, commencing with the 2017-18 school year,
school districts offering kindergarten to implement a full-day
kindergarten program, thereby imposing a state-mandated local
program. The bill would permit a school district to postpone
implementation of a full-day kindergarten due to a lack of facilities
if its governing board approves the postponement and would require
the school district to notify the State Department of Education of
the postponement within one month of the vote. The bill would provide
that a minimum schoolday for full-day kindergarten is the same
number of minutes per schoolday that is offered to pupils in first
grade. The bill would provide that a school district that has
postponed implementation of the full-day kindergarten requirement has
a minimum schoolday of 180 minutes.
This bill also would make conforming changes to other provisions
of existing law.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to provide the Legislature no later than March 1, 2015, with a
feasibility study and implementation plan for providing a full-day
kindergarten program in all public schools, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 46116 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
46116. (a) No later than March 1, 2015, the Superintendent shall
provide the Legislature with a feasibility study and implementation
plan for providing a full-day kindergarten program in all public
schools. The feasibility study and implementation plan shall include
recommendations for statutory changes and budgetary requirements to
ensure a seamless transition to providing a full-day kindergarten
program in all public schools. The Superintendent, at a minimum,
shall consider all of the following:
(1) The instructional, social, emotional, and developmental needs
of children.
(2) Teacher and other school staffing issues.
(3) Classroom capacity issues.
(b) The Superintendent may convene a task force to advise the
Superintendent on feasibility and implementation issues for the
purposes of preparing the report required pursuant to subdivision
(a). The task force shall include representatives of school district
superintendents, principals, kindergarten teachers, related pupil
support services personnel, and parents.
(c) The report required pursuant to this section shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on March 1, 2015, and,
as of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) All California public school kindergarten pupils deserve the
opportunity to maximize their growth, development, and success at
this critical time in their developmental process.
(b) Full-day kindergarten provides this opportunity through a
longer instructional day that has proven to be successful where it
has been implemented. School districts can obtain an example of an
extended kindergarten curriculum to help them more easily transition
to the program. One example curriculum that was designed for a
full-day kindergarten program is available through the Los Angeles
Unified School District, which has already implemented a full-day
program.
(c) Full-day kindergarten should provide time to meet the
developmentally based instructional needs of the whole child. It
should encompass all curricular areas, including visual and
performing arts and physical education, as outlined in the state
adopted curriculum frameworks.
(d) In addition, full-day kindergarten must be a priority for
school districts and reserving or obtaining space for the full-day
kindergarten program must take precedence over all nonclass
requirements.
(e) However, some school districts may face difficulties in
transitioning to a full-day kindergarten program and these school
districts must be provided with the necessary time to achieve
readiness.
SEC. 2. Section 8973 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
8973. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the kindergarten
schoolday in an early primary program conducted pursuant to Section
8972 may exceed four hours, exclusive of recesses, provided that both
of the following conditions are met:
(1) The governing board of a school district declares that the
extended-day kindergarten program does not exceed the length of the
primary schoolday.
(2) The extended-day kindergarten program takes into account ample
opportunity for both active and quiet activities within an
integrated, experiential, and developmentally appropriate educational
program.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 37202 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
37202. (a) Except if a school has been closed by order of a city
or a county board of health, or of the State Board of Health, on
account of contagious disease, or if the school has been closed on
account of fire, flood, or other public disaster, the governing board
of a school district shall maintain all of the elementary day
schools established by it for an equal length of time during the
school year and all of the day high schools established by it for an
equal length of time during the school year.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a school district that is
implementing an early primary program, pursuant to Chapter 8
(commencing with Section 8970) of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1,
may maintain kindergarten classes at different schoolsites within the
school district for different lengths of time during the schoolday,
except as provided in subdivision (c).
(c) Commencing with the 2017-18 school year, each school district
shall implement a full-day kindergarten program.
(d) A school district that determines that it cannot comply with
the requirement in subdivision (c) due to a lack of facilities may,
after deliberation and vote of its governing board, postpone the
requirement of subdivision (c). If the postponement is approved by
the governing board of the school district, the school district shall
notify the department of the postponement within one month of the
vote.
(e) For purposes of this section, "full-day kindergarten" means,
except as otherwise provided in this chapter, instruction provided
for the same number of minutes per schoolday that is offered to
pupils in first grade, exclusive of noon intermissions, but inclusive
of recesses, in accordance with Section 46115.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature that the governing board
of a school district develop the implementation plan for full-day
kindergarten pursuant to this section in consultation with affected
employee representatives and parents.
SEC. 4. Section 46111 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
46111. (a) (1) A pupil in a kindergarten shall not be kept in
school in any day more than four hours exclusive of recesses, except
for pupils in Early Primary Programs, as set forth in Chapter 8
(commencing with Section 8970) of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1.
(2) A pupil in a kindergarten in a school operating on a program
of multitrack year-round scheduling pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 37670 may be kept in school on any day for 265 minutes of
instruction, exclusive of recesses.
(b) This section does not apply to the Pasadena Unified School
District or counties of the third class as determined pursuant to
Section 28024 of the Government Code, as it read on January 1, 1977.
(c) This section does not apply to a pupil of the San Bernardino
Unified School District who is determined by the principal of the
school in which that pupil is enrolled, pursuant to testing, teacher
recommendation, or both, to be developmentally and academically
suited for a longer instructional day.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 5. Section 46112 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
46112. (a) The minimum schoolday in grades 1, 2, and 3 in
elementary schools, except in opportunity schools, classes, or
programs, is 230 minutes, except if the governing board of a school
district has prescribed a shorter length for the schoolday because of
a lack of school facilities that requires double sessions, in which
case the minimum schoolday in those grades shall be 200 minutes.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 6. Section 46112 is added to the Education
Code, to read:
46112. (a) The minimum schoolday in grades 1, 2, and 3 in
elementary schools, except in opportunity schools, classes, or
programs, is 230 minutes, except if the governing board of a school
district has prescribed a shorter length for the schoolday because of
a lack of school facilities that requires double sessions, in which
case the minimum schoolday in those grades is 200 minutes.
(b) The minimum schoolday in kindergarten in elementary schools is
the same number of minutes per schoolday that is offered to pupils
in first grade, except where the governing board of a school district
has voted to postpone that minimum schoolday pursuant to subdivision
(d) of Section 37202, in which case the minimum schoolday in
kindergarten shall be 180 minutes.
(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2017.
SEC. 7. Section 46114 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
46114. (a) The minimum schoolday in a kindergarten implementing
the full-day kindergarten program required by subdivisions (c) and
(e) of Section 37202 and in grades 1, 2, and 3 in elementary schools
may be computed by determining the number of minutes of attendance in
any 10 consecutive schooldays and dividing that number by 10. If the
resulting quotient is 230 or more, the pupils shall be deemed to
have complied with Section 46112, even if the number of minutes
attended in any one schoolday is less than 230, but not less than
170.
(b) The minimum schoolday in grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in
elementary schools may be computed by determining the number of
minutes of attendance in any 10 consecutive schooldays and dividing
that number by 10. If the resulting quotient is 240 or more, the
pupils shall be deemed to have complied with Section 46113, even if
the number of minutes attended in any one schoolday is less than 240,
but not less than 180.
(c) The minimum schoolday in kindergarten in elementary schools
that are not implementing the full-day kindergarten program required
by subdivision (c) of Section 37202 may be computed by determining
the number of minutes of attendance in any 10 consecutive schooldays
and dividing that number by 10. If the resulting quotient is 180 or
more, pupils shall be deemed to have complied with Section 46117,
even if the number of minutes attended in any one schoolday is less
than 180, but not less than 60.
(d) A computation authorized by this section shall not result in
any increase in state apportionments.
(e) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 8. Section 46114 is added to the Education
Code, to read:
46114. (a) The minimum schoolday in kindergarten and grades 1, 2,
and 3 in elementary schools may be computed by determining the
number of minutes of attendance in any 10 consecutive schooldays and
dividing that number by 10. If the resulting quotient is 230 or more,
the pupils shall be deemed to have complied with Section 46112, even
if the number of minutes attended in any one schoolday is less than
230, but not less than 170.
(b) The minimum schoolday in grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in
elementary schools may be computed by determining the number of
minutes of attendance in any 10 consecutive schooldays and dividing
that number by 10. If the resulting quotient is 240 or more, the
pupils shall be deemed to have complied with Section 46113, even if
the number of minutes attended in any one schoolday is less than 240,
but not less than 180.
(c) The computation authorized by this section shall not result in
any increase in state apportionments.
(d) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2017.
SEC. 9. Section 46117 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
46117. (a) The minimum schoolday for a pupil in a kindergarten
other than a kindergarten that is implementing the full-day
kindergarten program required by subdivision (c) of Section 37202 is
180 minutes inclusive of recesses, and a unit of average daily
attendance shall not be credited for attendance in kindergarten
classes if the minimum schoolday of those classes is less than 180
minutes.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 10. Section 46118 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
46118. (a) A single-session kindergarten class shall meet all of
the following criteria:
(1) The class is maintained for a minimum of 180 minutes per
schoolday, unless the kindergarten is implementing the full-day
kindergarten program required by subdivision (c) of Section 37202.
(2) The kindergarten class teacher is assigned to only one session
of kindergarten daily as a principal teacher.
(3) The kindergarten teacher is a full-time certificated employee.
(4) The kindergarten teacher shall be available for assistance or
assignment in the instructional program of the primary grades when
not involved in the kindergarten program.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 11. Section 46119 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
46119. (a) The governing board of a school district that has
fewer than 40 pupils enrolled in kindergarten classes may apply to
the Superintendent for approval to maintain two kindergarten classes
of 150 minutes each inclusive of recesses on the same day that are
taught by the same teacher. The average daily attendance for those
classes shall be adjusted by a multiplication factor of 0.500.
(b) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as
of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that
becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 12. If the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs
shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.