BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 713
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 713
(Weber) - As Amended March 19, 2015
SUBJECT: Elementary education: kindergarten
SUMMARY: Requires, beginning in the 2017-18 school year, a
child to complete one year of kindergarten before he or she may
be admitted to first grade.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Specifies that each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years,
unless otherwise exempted, is subject to compulsory full-time
education. Requires each person subject to compulsory
full-time education and each person subject to compulsory
continuation education to attend the public full-time day
school or continuation school or classes and for the full time
designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing
board of the school district in which the residency of either
the parent or legal guardian is located and each parent,
guardian, or other person having control or charge of the
pupil to send the pupil to the public full-time day school or
continuation school or classes and for the full time
designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing
board of the school district in which the residence of either
the parent or legal guardian is located. (Education Code (EC)
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Section 48200)
2)Specifies that unless otherwise provided, a pupil shall not be
enrolled for less than the minimum schoolday established by
law. (EC Section 48200)
3)Requires that a child be admitted to a kindergarten at the
beginning of a school year, or at any time later in the same
year, if the child will have his or her fifth birthday on or
before one of 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.
d) September 1 of the 2014-15 school year and each school
year thereafter. (EC Section 48000)
4)Authorizes the governing board of a school district
maintaining one or more kindergartens to, on a case-by-case
basis, admit to kindergarten a child having attained the age
of five years at any time during the school year with the
approval of the parent or guardian, subject to the following
conditions:
a) The governing board determines that the admittance is in
the best interests of the child.
b) The parent or guardian is given information regarding
the advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory
information about the effect of this early admittance. (EC
48000)
5)Specifies that a child shall be admitted to the first grade of
an elementary school during the first month of a school year
if the child will have his or her sixth birthday on or before
one of 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.
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d) September 1 of the 2014-15 school year and each school
year thereafter. (EC Section 48010)
6)Authorizes the attendance supervisor or his or her designee, a
peace officer, a school administrator or his or her designee,
or a probation officer to arrest or assume temporary custody,
during school hours, of any minor subject to compulsory
full-time education or to compulsory continuation education
found away from his or her home and who is absent from school
without valid excuse within the county, city, or city and
county, or school district. (EC Section 48264)
FISCAL EFFECT: The Legislative Counsel has keyed this bill as a
state-mandated local program.
COMMENTS: Background. Under current law, compulsory education
begins at age 6 until age 18. Any person subject to compulsory
education found away from home without a valid excuse for not
attending school can be arrested by school officials or peace or
probation officers. Current law does not require a child to
attend kindergarten but requires school districts to admit a
pupil for kindergarten if a parent wishes to enroll a child as
long as the child will be five-years-old by September 1.
This bill requires all kids to attend kindergarten before
enrolling in first grade. In the 2013-14 school year, 506,831
pupils were enrolled in kindergarten out of a total enrollment
of 6,236,672. The California Department of Education (CDE) also
reports that 45,521 pupils attended private kindergarten
programs in 2013-14. The CDE estimates that between 90-95% of
pupils eligible for kindergarten actually attend kindergarten
(public and private). The CDE reviewed data of kids enrolled in
first grade in the 2011-12 school year but were not enrolled in
kindergarten in 2010-11 and found that 28,000, or 5.7% of kids
entered the public school system for the first time in first
grade. It is unlikely that all 28,000 skipped kindergarten;
many of these kids may have enrolled in private schools for
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kindergarten.
Mandatory kindergarten in other states. The Education
Commission of the States reports that, as of December 2010, 19
states have mandatory kindergarten policies, including Arkansas,
Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Louisiana,
Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virgin Islands,
Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia. Of the 19, 11 have
compulsory education starting at age 5, the remaining eight
require students to attend school beginning age 6 or older.
Benefits of kindergarten. Kids who attend kindergarten are
better prepared academically and socially for first grade. For
children who have not attended preschool, kindergarten is where
they learn how to hold a pencil properly, follow directions, as
well as the alphabets and math concepts. Kindergarten is also
where they learn reading skills. Kids who enter first grade
without having attended kindergarten start first grade behind
those who did. First grade teachers must spend time teaching
kindergarten level academics and social skills instead of
focusing full attention on first grade standards if they have
kids in their class that are entering school for the first time
in first grade. Bruce Fuller, an education professor at UC
Berkeley, made this statement in a 2002 Los Angeles Times
article, "Compulsory, full-day kindergarten is the lost soul of
public education."
A 2010 study, "Who Benefits from Kindergarten? Evidence from
the Introduction of State Subsidization," shows that
kindergarten has a positive effect on those who are
socioeconomically disadvantaged. The study looked at outcomes -
both long and short term - in the academic and labor markets
based on the availability of public school kindergarten in the
United States and found that kids from lower income families who
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attend kindergarten are less likely to be below grade level
through their academic careers and earn wages 5 percent higher
as adults.
This bill does not change the age of compulsory education at age
5. A possible effect of this bill is that the age of kids in
the kindergarten through grade 12 system will be older in every
grade. If parents start their kids in kindergarten at age 6,
then they will be older going into all remaining grades.
Arguments in support. The author states, "The current voluntary
status of kindergarten allows parents to delay their child's
entrance into school until first grade, leaving that student
unprepared for the educational environment they will encounter
in elementary school. The new Common Core State Standards have
high academic performance expectations for students. If children
don't attend kindergarten, they begin first grade behind
socially and academically, which is likely to inhibit their
academic progress throughout their school careers. We are
making a significant investment in the state's K-12 system to
improve student success. It's time we made kindergarten
mandatory to ensure that our investment in student success is
maximized. This bill ensures that children will not start first
grade behind, while preserving parent choice by not changing the
compulsory age of education."
Arguments in opposition. The Independent Private Schools of
California opposes the bill and states, "AB 713 would place an
inappropriate financial burden on parents who have determined
that it is best for their child to wait an additional year
(until age 6) to enroll their children in school and who plan to
enroll their child in the first grade of a private school at
their own expense. Under AB 713, parents who choose to delay
their child's entrance into formal education by forgoing
kindergarten will be forced to undergo a time and financial
penalty of adding a year of school before graduation.
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Enrollment into kindergarten prior to the first grade must
remain optional for parents."
Previous legislation. AB 1444 (Buchanan and Weber), was
identical to this bill, which was vetoed by Governor Brown last
year. The veto message stated:
"Most children already attend kindergarten, and those that
don't may be enrolled in other educational
or developmental programs that are deemed more appropriate
for them by their families.
I would prefer to let parents determine what is best for their
children, rather than mandate an entirely new grade
level."
AB 1772 (Buchanan), held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee suspense file in 2012, was identical to this bill.
AB 2203 (V. Manuel Perez), held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee suspense file in 2012, lowers the age of a person
subject to compulsory education from age 6 to age 5 and makes a
conforming change to the provision of law specifying exclusions
to compulsory education.
AB 1236 (Mullin) would have lowered the age of compulsory
education to from age 6 to age 5, among other proposals. The
bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense
file in 2008.
AB 634 (Wesson) would have applied the compulsory education law
to a child, and the parents and guardian of a child, between the
ages of five and six who is enrolled in a public school
kindergarten and attends the kindergarten for at least 30 days
during the school year. The bill was vetoed by Governor Gray
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Davis in 2002.
SB 893 (Lee), would have lowered the age of compulsory education
from age 6 to age 5. The bill failed in the Senate Education
Committee in 1997.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
California Right to Life, Inc.
Home School Legal Defense Association (Virginia)
Independent Private Schools of California
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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