BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1381
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1381 (Simitian) - As Amended: August 2, 2010
Policy Committee: Education Vote:8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
Commencing with the 2011-12 school year, this bill, as proposed
to be amended , moves the kindergarten start date back one month
each year for three years until September 1 becomes the date a
child is required to be five years old to enroll in
kindergarten. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the following dates at which time a child must be
five years old to enroll in kindergarten: (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; and (d)
September 1 of the 2014-15 school year and each year
thereafter.
2)Requires, commencing with the 2012-13 school year, a child who
would otherwise be eligible for enrollment in kindergarten to
be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained
by a school district.
3)Defines "transitional kindergarten" (TK) as the first year of
a two-year kindergarten program that uses a modified
kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally
appropriate. This measure also requires the attendance of
pupils enrolled in a TK program to generate the same state
funding as the attendance of pupils enrolled in a traditional
kindergarten.
4)Requires a child, commencing with the 2011-12 school year, to
be admitted to first grade of an elementary school during the
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first month of a school year if he or she has his or her sixth
birthday on or before specified dates (which corresponds with
the three-year gradual roll back of the kindergarten start
date), as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF/98 revenue limit funding (general purpose) costs over the
following three year period:
-------------------------------------
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
|-----------+--------------+----------|
| $19.8 |$40.5 million | $57.2 |
| million | |million |
-------------------------------------
These costs are associated with additional children attending
a TK program as opposed to enrolling in kindergarten. For
example, many parents simply choose not to enroll their
children in kindergarten because their children have late fall
birthdays. The Legislative Analyst Office assumes eight
percent of parents choose to "red shirt" their children and
not enroll them in kindergarten. This measure establishes a
TK program and these costs assume the practice of "red
shirting" will no longer occur because school districts are
required to establish TK programs.
Once the full effect of rolling back the kindergarten age
requirement occurs (from December 2 to September 1), there
would be a GF/98 reallocation of $715.4 million from
kindergarten classes to TK programs, including the additional
revenue limit costs noted above. Approximately 137,189
children would be affected over the three year period.
Likewise, there will be GF/98 cost pressure in the millions to
provide additional categorical program funding for these
pupils (i.e., economic impact aid, instructional materials,
etc.).
2)Annual GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of at least
$13.2 million, to school districts to hire additional teachers
for the TK programs.
3)Annual GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs, of at least
$2.6 million, to school districts to provide professional
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development to teachers and purchase portable classroom
facilities for the TK program.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . In its analysis of The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition
98 and K-12 Education, the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO)
recommends moving the kindergarten start date back to
September 1 (requiring a child to have turned five prior to
entering kindergarten) beginning in the 2011-12 school year.
Specifically, the LAO states: "Many have argued that entering
kindergarten before turning five years of age is too young,
and beginning school at an older age would benefit children's
academic performance and social development. Data suggest
children who are older when they start kindergarten tend to
perform better on standardized tests. Some research suggests
this change also may lead to other positive student outcomes,
including less chance of grade retention and higher earnings
as an adult."
According to the author, "California is one of just four
states (along with Connecticut, Michigan and Vermont) with a
cut-off date later than December 1st. In most states, children
must turn five by September 1st in order to start
kindergarten. California allows children as young as four
years and nine months to start kindergarten as long as the
child turns five by December 2nd."
This bill, commencing with the 2012-13 school year, moves the
kindergarten start date back to September 1, which requires a
child to turn five years old on or before September 1 of that
school year. It also establishes a TK program for children who
turn five years old between September 1 and December 1, as
specified.
2)Author's amendments . In the Assembly Education Committee, the
author agreed to establish a TK program in the bill. This
analysis reflects the proposed author's amendments and the
agreement made in the previous committee.
3)Is it cost effective to require all school districts to
establish a TK program ? By requiring a school district to
establish a TK program, this bill creates a state reimbursable
mandated program at a time when the state currently owes a
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total of $3.2 billion GF/98 in outstanding K-12 mandate
claims.
Also, this measures requires a district to establish a TK
program for pupils who are displaced by rolling back the
kindergarten start date by one month over a three-year period.
This requirement will be fiscally ineffective for many small
school districts in the state. For example, if a school
district only has two pupils who are eligible for the TK
program because their birthdays were in November, the district
is required to serve these pupils in this program. Is it cost
effective for a school district to hire, train, and obtain a
facility to establish a TK program that will only serve two
children?
Given the state's severe fiscal situation, the committee may
wish to consider whether it is appropriate to require school
districts to establish TK programs.
4)Existing law does not require children to attend kindergarten.
If a child does attend, he or she must be admitted if the
child will have his or her fifth birthday on or before
December 2 of that school year. This bill does not propose to
make kindergarten mandatory; it does, however, propose to
incrementally roll back the age of kindergarten admission to
September 1 by the 2014-15 school year.
5)SDE study on changing the admission age of kindergarten
students . In May 2004, the SDE submitted a report to the
Legislature on changing the kindergarten start date.
Specifically, the report states that changing the kindergarten
start date from December 1 to September 1 of each year would
delay approximately 114,235 children from entering
kindergarten for one year. It also affirms that this change
can potentially save the state up to $400 million beginning in
the second year of implementation. The amount of actual
savings would depend on the assumptions of how to support or
fund preschool services for those children whose entry into
kindergarten would be delayed.
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The SDE also cautioned that "rather than looking at the merits
of changing the kindergarten cut-off date by itself,
considerable thought should be given to the types of quality
preschool services available for children whose entry to
kindergarten would be delayed as well as for other children."
6)Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) establishes a TK
program . In January 2010, Superintendent Ramon Cortines
announced the school district's plans to pilot this voluntary
program beginning in the 2010-11 school year with at least one
program in each of LAUSD's eight local districts. LAUSD's
program will emphasize pre-literacy instruction to develop
beginning reading and mathematics skills. In addition to
building cognitive skills, the program also seeks to address
the development and enhancement of social and emotional skills
that are important factors in doing well in school.
7)Related legislation .
a) AB 1967 (Mendoza), commencing with the 2012-13 school
year, moves the kindergarten start date back to September
1, which requires a child to turn five years old on or
before September 1 of that school year. This measure was
held on this committee's suspense file in May 2010.
b) AB 1236 (Mullin) established the Kindergarten Year 1 and
Kindergarten Year 2 pilot program for children eligible for
kindergarten. This bill was held on this committee's
Suspense File in May 2008.
c) AB 2596 (Runner) incrementally changed the age at which
a child is admitted to kindergarten. After three years
(beginning in 2009-10), a child that has his or her fifth
birthday on or before September 1 will be able to enroll in
kindergarten. This bill was held on this committee's
Suspense File in May 2006.
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Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081