BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1719 (Weber) - Kindergarten: Feasibility Study and
Implementation Plan
Amended: June 30, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 4-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: AB 1719 requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to submit to the Legislature, by September 1,
2015, a feasibility study and implementation plan for providing
full-day kindergarten.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on August 14, 2014):
Evaluation: Approximately $240,000 (General Fund) in
one-time contract costs for the California Department of
Education (CDE) to conduct a kindergarten program
evaluation, based on a diverse sampling of part-day and
full-day kindergarten programs, as specified. Potentially
significant workload increase to monitor contract over 10
months.
Minor workload increase to elementary schools to annually
report on the type of kindergarten programs they run. This
activity is unlikely to result in significant enough costs
to file a mandate claim.
Background: Existing law requires a school to admit a student to
kindergarten if the student will be 5-years-old on or before
September 1 of the 2014-15 school year and every year
thereafter. Children are not, however, required to attend
kindergarten. (EC § 48000)
Existing law authorizes school districts to admit to
kindergarten, on a case-by-case basis, a student who will be
5-years-old during the school year, subject to the following
conditions: 1) the governing board of the school district
determines that the admittance is in the best interests of the
student; and, 2) the parent is given information regarding the
advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory
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information about the effect of this early admittance. (EC §
48000)
The minimum schoolday for students in kindergarten is 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)
Existing law further 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)
Existing law also 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)
Proposed Law: This bill requires the SPI to submit to the
Legislature, by September 1, 2015, a feasibility study and
implementation plan for providing full-day kindergarten. The
feasibility study must take specified topics into consideration
and include recommendations for statutory changes and budgetary
requirements to ensure a seamless transition to providing a
full-day kindergarten program in all public schools.
This bill 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 any task
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force to include representatives of school district
superintendents, principals, kindergarten teachers, related
student support services personnel, and parents.
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 on the Suspense
File in this Committee.
AB 2046 (Coto, 2006) would have required kindergarten to be a
full-day program, phased in over three years. AB 2046 was held
on the Suspense File in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Staff Comments: This bill requires the SPI to provide the
Legislature with a feasibility study and implementation plan for
providing full-day kindergarten in every public school. The
10-month timeline for producing the study and plan will require
the CDE to contract out for the majority of the work. Such a
contract will likely cost in excess of $200,000, and the CDE
will have to devote staff resources to managing the contract.
The bill language calling for an implementation plan, and for
study recommendations for "statutory changes and budgetary
requirements to ensure a seamless transition to providing a
full-day kindergarten program in all public schools" implies
that this bill intends to provide the blueprint for putting
full-day kindergarten into practice statewide. This will create
substantial cost pressure to implement full-day kindergarten.
While some school districts offer full-day kindergarten, they do
not receive additional apportionments to do so; as a local
option, they provide any additional resources that might be
required. If the state instituted full-day kindergarten as the
norm, schools would likely require additional resources (e.g.
space); it is common to have two half-day kindergarten classes
use the same classroom. A statewide program, particularly if
required, would create considerable pressure to provide a
funding augmentation to schools to roll out full-day
kindergarten.
This bill authorizes the SPI to convene a task force to consult
on the report. In particular, to advise on the feasibility and
implementation issues. While this task force is not a
requirement, it may be necessary in light of the time
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constraints to produce the and level of expertise that would be
needed. The bill specifies that the task force would include
representatives of school district superintendents, principals,
kindergarten teachers, pupil support services and facility
personnel, child development professionals, and parents.
Coordinating and staffing such a task force, and paying for
travel reimbursements for participants would likely cost
approximately $200,000 over the 10-month period.
Committee Amendments replace the "feasibility study" with an
evaluation of existing kindergarten programs, including both
full-day and part-day programs. Amendments also require LEAs to
annually report, in a manner prescribed by the CDE, whether they
offer full-day or part-day kindergarten. The provisions are
subject to a budget appropriation.