BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1719
AUTHOR: Weber
AMENDED: May 23, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 25, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Full-day Kindergarten.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to submit to the Legislature, by March 1, 2015, a
feasibility study and implementation plan for providing
full-day kindergarten.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires a student to be admitted to kindergarten if
the student will be five-years old on or before
September 1 of the 2014-15 school year and every year
thereafter. (EC § 48000)
2) Authorizes school districts to admit to kindergarten,
on a case-by-case basis, a student who will be
five-years old during the school year, subject to the
following conditions:
a) The governing board of the school district
determines that the admittance is in the best
interests of the student.
b) The parent is given information regarding
the advantages and disadvantages and any other
explanatory information about the effect of this
early admittance. (EC § 48000)
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3) Establishes the minimum schoolday for students in
kindergarten as 180 minutes, inclusive of recess.
Current law prohibits a student in kindergarten from
being kept in school for more than four hours per day,
exclusive of recess. (EC § 46117 and § 46111)
4) Requires a single-session kindergarten class to meet
all of the following criteria:
a) The class is for a minimum of 180 minutes
per schooldays.
b) The kindergarten class teacher is assigned
to only one session of kindergarten daily as a
principal teacher.
c) The kindergarten teacher is a full-time
certificated employee.
d) The kindergarten teacher must be available
for assistance or assignment in the instructional
program of the primary grades when not involved
in the kindergarten program. (EC § 46118)
5) Authorizes the kindergarten schoolday in an early
primary program to exceed four hours if both of the
following conditions are met:
a) The extended-day kindergarten program does
not exceed the length of the primary school day.
b) The extended-day kindergarten program takes
into account ample opportunity for both active
and quiet activities with an integrated,
experiential, and developmentally appropriate
educational program. (EC § 8973)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to submit to the Legislature, by March 1, 2015, a
feasibility study and implementation plan for providing
full-day kindergarten. Specifically, this bill:
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1) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) to provide the Legislature with a feasibility
study and implementation plan for providing a full-day
kindergarten program in all public schools.
2) Requires the feasibility study and implementation plan
to include recommendations for statutory changes and
budgetary requirements to ensure a seamless transition
to providing a full-day kindergarten program in all
public schools.
3) Requires the SPI to consider, at a minimum, all of the
following:
a) The instructional, social, emotional, and
developmental needs of
children.
b) Teacher and other school staffing issues.
c) Classroom capacity issues.
4) Authorizes the SPI to convene a task force to advise
the SPI on feasibility and implementation issues for
the preparation of the study and plan. This bill
requires the task force to include representatives of
school district
superintendents, principals, kindergarten teachers,
related student support services personnel, and
parents.
5) Requires the SPI to submit the study and plan by March
1, 2015, and sunsets the provisions of this bill on
that date.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) How many students currently attend kindergarten ?
Kindergarten is considered a grade level; is factored
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in the calculation of average daily attendance; and is
included in the academic content standards, curricular
frameworks and instructional materials. However,
attendance in kindergarten is not mandatory and
compulsory education laws begin at age 6.
The California Department of Education (CDE) estimates that
between 90-95% of eligible students attend
kindergarten (public and private kindergarten); it is
estimated that approximately 80% of eligible students
attend kindergarten at a public school.
Kindergarten is half-day.
A survey of full-day kindergarten in California conducted
by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2009
found that, in the 2007-08 school year, 43% of
kindergarteners attended full-day kindergarten, with
lower-performing and economically disadvantaged
schools more likely to offer full-day programs.
2) Kindergarten teachers . According to the Assembly
Education Committee analysis, most kindergarten
teachers currently work a full day, splitting their
time between two part-day kindergarten classrooms,
assisting other teachers or working on other district
duties. If the part-day teacher is now required to
teach a full-day, the district would incur costs to
cover the duties formerly performed by the part-day
teacher. School districts currently receive the same
average daily attendance apportionments for
kindergarten students whether they attend a part-day
or full-day program.
3) Author's amendments . This bill requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit the
study and plan to the Legislature by March 1, 2015.
The author wishes to amend this bill to push the due
date back to September 1, 2015. Should the study and
plan also be submitted to the Governor and State Board
of Education?
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The author wishes to add representation of school facility
personnel, and child development professionals, to the
task force.
4) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, this bill would impose
administrative costs to the California Department of
Education, likely in the range of $120,000 to $150,000
to administer the task force and develop a study and
implementation plan.
5) Related legislation . AB 1444 (Buchanan) requires,
beginning with the 2016-17 school year, a student to
have completed one year of kindergarten before being
admitted to the first grade, thereby requiring
kindergarten attendance. AB 1444 is pending in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
6) Prior legislation . AB 2046 (Coto, 2006) would have
required kindergarten to be a full-day program, phased
in over three years. The bill defined full-day
kindergarten as
instruction provided for a minimum of 230 minutes per
schoolday, exclusive of lunch. AB 2046 was held in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 520 (Koretz, 2001) would have authorized a school
district, county office of education, or a charter
school to elect to participate in the kindergarten
full schoolday program that operates for the full
school year and for the minimum schoolday established
for students in first grade. AB 520 was amended to
relate to another topic.
SUPPORT
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
California Child Development Administrators Association
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California State PTA
Compton Unified School District
Greater Sacramento Urban League
Los Angeles County Education Fouindation
Los Angeles County Office of Education
Santa Clara County Office of Education
OPPOSITION
None on file.