BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1967
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1967 (Mendoza) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
SUBJECT : Pupil admission: kindergarten and first grade
SUMMARY : Moves up the date by three months by which a child
must be five years old to enroll in kindergarten and six years
old to enroll in first grade. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires that commencing with the 2012-13 school year, a child
shall be admitted to a kindergarten at the beginning of a
school year, or at any later time in the same year if the
child will have his or her fifth birthday on or before
September 1 of that school year.
2)Authorizes, commencing with the 2012-13 school year, a child
to be admitted at the beginning of a school year or at any
later time in that same year to a prekindergarten maintained
by a school district if the child will have his or her fifth
birthday between September 2 and December 2 of that school
year. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
to allocate to a school district that maintains a
prekindergarten program an amount equal to the revenue limit
amount that would have been allocated to the district for the
kindergarten attendance of these pupils, if they would have
been eligible to attend kindergarten under the law as it
existed on January 1, 2012. Specifies that pupils who attend
a prekindergarten program are eligible to attend a
kindergarten program the following school year.
3)Requires that commencing with the 2013-14 school year, 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 September 1 of that
school year.
EXISTING LAW :
1)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 5th birthday on or
before December 2 of that school year. Provides that a child
AB 1967
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who will have his or her fifth birthday on or before December
2 may be admitted to the prekindergarten summer program
maintained by the school district for pupils who will be
enrolling in kindergarten in September. (Education Code (EC)
48000)
2)Requires that a child 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
December 2 of that school year. Provides that for good cause,
the governing board of a school district may permit a child of
proper age to be admitted to a class after the first school
month of the school term. (EC 48010)
3)Provides that a child who has been admitted to the
kindergarten maintained by a private or a public school in
California or any other state, and who has completed one
school year therein, shall be admitted to the first grade of
an elementary school unless the parent or the guardian of the
child and the school district agree that the child may
continue in kindergarten for not more than an additional year.
(EC 48011)
4)Subjects children between the ages of six and 18 years to
compulsory full-time education unless exempted pursuant to
prescribed provisions of law. (EC 48200)
5)Establishes the Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program, which
permits school districts, until January 1, 2014, to
participate in a program to provide opportunities to increase
a child's readiness for school. (EC 48005.10 - 48005.55)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill moves the date by which a child must turn
five for kindergarten entry from December 2 to September 1,
beginning in the 2012-13 school year. California is one of four
states (Connecticut, Michigan and Vermont) to have cut-off dates
between December 1 and January 1. Thirty six states have
cut-off dates between August 31 and October 16; four states have
cut-off dates on or before August 15; six states leave the
entrance-age decision up to local school districts. It is
estimated that 115,000 or 25% of a kindergarten class would be
affected by this proposal. The California Department of
Education (CDE) projects displacement of 3,500 teachers
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associated with this shift.
Due to increased emphasis on test scores, kindergarten classes
now place heavier emphasis on academics. Success in
kindergarten is not only affected by what a child knows or not
knows academically, physical, social and emotional factors also
matter. Delaying the entry of four-year-old children will give
them time to prepare and mature. Numerous studies have been
conducted relative to school readiness and the age of entry into
kindergarten. Some studies report a benefit to delayed entry
while others show there are little or no long-term benefits. A
May 2008 Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) review of
14 existing studies found that students who enter kindergarten
at an older age do better on math and reading test scores, with
the impact lasting into the eighth grade. Studies also suggest
that older students are less likely to be retained a grade or to
be diagnosed with a learning disability, while having higher
likelihood of attending college and earning higher wages. The
report notes, however, that the actual birthdate for entry would
affect individual pupils in different ways. Those kids who are
delayed for a year will be the older kids in their class, but
those with the mid-year birthdays will now be the youngest.
While unlikely to occur, this can potentially affect graduation
rates. California's compulsory education law requires
attendance in school from six through 18 years of age;
kindergarten is not mandatory in California. Kids who turn 18
earlier will be able to leave school earlier and therefore may
not graduate.
The PPIC also reports the results of one study that shows that
kids from higher income families fare better than kids from
disadvantaged families due to increased opportunities for access
to prekindergarten/preschool programs. This is evident by
parents who intentionally hold children with fall birthdays
back, a practice commonly referred to as "redshirting" in order
to provide their children with extra time to gain the skills
necessary to be successful for academics. PPIC has determined
that the benefits of delaying entry overrides the negatives, but
points out that the effect of delaying entry to kindergarten is
contingent upon the extent to which disparities in skill
acquisition between kids is removed. Finally, the PPIC
recommends that policymakers pay special attention to the effect
on disadvantaged kids and English learners, who may need
additional prekindergarten opportunities.
AB 1967
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Another report, "What Age Should Children Enter Kindergarten? A
Question for Policy Makers and Parents" (Stipek, 2002),
concludes that school experience makes a greater contribution to
academic achievement than delaying children's school entry.
According to Stipek, research does not support any unique
"threshold" entry age by which young children are most ready to
begin school. Children from low-income backgrounds, already at
risk of starting school behind their middle-class peers in terms
of academic skills, may be even further disadvantaged when
kindergarten is delayed.
A 2005 study by the RAND Corporation titled "Delaying
Kindergarten: Effects on Test Scores and Childcare Costs" found
that delaying kindergarten boosts standardized test scores in
math and reading. However, the study also noted that delaying
kindergarten can have a negative economic effect on families by
imposing additional childcare costs for families. The report
suggests that "policymakers may need to view entrance age
policies and childcare policies as a package."
The CDE released a report 2004 that examined the impact of
changing the "cut off" date for admission to kindergarten by
three months. The report also recommends that thought be given
to the types and quality of preschool services that would be
available to displaced children.
The LAO in its analysis of the FY 2010-11 budget, supports the
date change and recommends implementation beginning in 2011-12
in order to realize approximately $700 million savings from
revenue limit and categorical program savings. The LAO suggests
that some of the funding could be used for subsidized preschool
for low-income kids. Concerns have been raised about moving the
birthdate for kindergarten for budgetary reasons. The reason
for delaying entry is to ensure that the kids are better
prepared for school, academically and social-emotionally. If
over 100,000 kids are prevented from starting their education,
the state should ensure that they have access to programs that
will ensure their school readiness.
This bill proposes to address school readiness by authorizing
districts to enroll kids with birthdays between September 2 and
December 2 in prekindergarten programs maintained by school
districts and providing revenue limit funding for these kids.
Anecdotally, there have been reports of several districts that
have or are experimenting with prekindergarten programs - also
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called transitional kindergarten or two year kindergarten - for
children with fall birthdays. Districts are using as the basis
of their programs existing law that allows parents and school
districts to, upon the conclusion of one year of kindergarten,
retain a child for another year. These programs may differ from
preschool programs in that they are taught by credentialed
teachers and are adapted from kindergarten curriculum. Staff
recommends changing the term "prekindergarten" to "transitional
kindergarten" and specifying that transitional kindergarten
classes are modified kindergarten classes. Staff also
recommends changing the eligibility from kids with September 2nd
birthdays to kids with September 1st birthdays to be consistent
with the September 1 entry date.
There have numerous bills on this subject over the last 13
years. Some bills have proposed phasing in the change one month
each year over three years, while others, such as this bill,
proposes to make the change in one year. Phasing the change
over three years will enable programs to be established to
ensure access for displaced kids and will cause less disruption
for teachers and schools. However, it can be argued that this
bill addresses these concerns through linkages with
district-maintained programs. While districts will have to
develop transitional kindergarten curriculum, they already have
facilities and staff, which are major challenges for starting
new programs.
Related legislation . SB 1381 (Simitian) moves up the birthday
one month each year and expresses the intent of the Legislature
to divert half of the savings to the State Preschool Program.
The bill is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 293 (Runner) moves the birthday one month each year for three
years. The bill was not heard in 2009 or 2010.
Previous legislation . AB 1236 (Mullin), moves up the date by 3
months by which a child must be 5 years old to enroll in
kindergarten and 6 years old to enroll in first grade, beginning
in 2011-12; makes kindergarten compulsory, beginning in 2010-11;
and establishes the Kindergarten Readiness Program, beginning in
2011-12. This bill was held by the Assembly Appropriations
Committee in 2008.
AB 2596 (S. Runner), moves up the birthday one month each year
and requires any savings to be allocated to the State Department
AB 1967
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of Education to provide reimbursement for child care and
development services for eligible (low-income) families. The
bill was held by the Assembly Appropriations Committee in 2006.
SB 1764 (George Runner), also changes the age of admission to
kindergarten, but requires any savings realized by these changes
to be appropriated to increase access to preschool programs for
at-risk 4 year olds. The bill was held by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee in 2006.
AB 1394 (S. Runner), introduced in 2006, was identical to early
versions of AB 2596, but was never heard.
AB 66 (Pavley) would have authorized 23 specified school
districts to operate a two-year kindergarten pilot program, a
component of which would have allowed a child who has had his or
her fifth birthday between September 1 and December 2 of the
school year to be admitted to year-one of the program with the
approval of the parent or guardian. AB 66 was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file in 2006.
AB 2970 (Pavley) of 2004 would have authorized a school district
to offer kindergarten classes at different schoolsites within
the district for different lengths of time and authorized a
school district to change the age at which a child is admitted
to kindergarten. AB 2970 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 810 (S. Runner) of 2003 would have moved up the dates by
which a child must be 5 years old to enroll in kindergarten and
6 years old to enroll in first grade. AB 810 failed passage in
the Assembly Education Committee.
AB 25 (Mazzoni), Chapter 1022, Statutes of 2000, created the
voluntary Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program to test the
effectiveness of changing the kindergarten age of entry.
Beginning with the 2001-02 school year, participating school
districts could have required a child to be 5 years old before
September 1 to enroll in kindergarten. AB 25 provided funding
to school districts to compensate for the temporary loss of
attendance caused by changing kindergarten enrollment dates, and
required school districts to provide pre-kindergarten
instruction as a condition of the receipt of that funding. This
pilot program has not been implemented because it was not
funded. It is scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2011.
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AB 513 (Mazzoni) of 1999 would have moved up the dates by which
a child must be 5 years old to enroll in kindergarten and 6
years old to enroll in first grade, phased in the change
one-month at a time over 3 years, held districts harmless for
any loss of revenue caused by this change, required outreach,
made kindergarten mandatory, required an assurance that an
adequate number of preschool and child care spaces were
available from children who would have otherwise been in
kindergarten, and required an evaluation of the effects on
student performance. AB 513 was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 85 (G. Runner) of 1997 would have moved up the dates by which
a child must be 5 years old to enroll in kindergarten and 6
years old to enroll in first grade, phased in the change
one-month at a time over 3 years, and held districts harmless
for any loss of revenue caused by this change. AB 85 failed
passage in the Assembly Education Committee.
Governor Wilson's 1992 proposal (part of his proposed Budget) to
change the date for admission to kindergarten was not approved
due to concerns about the significant budget deficit.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Federation of Teachers
Los Angeles Unified School District
State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior Leagues of
California
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087