BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 30
AUTHOR: Simitian
AMENDED: March 25, 2011
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: May 11, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program.
SUMMARY
This bill extends by one year the date by which the final
report of the Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program is to be
submitted.
BACKGROUND
Current law establishes the Kindergarten Readiness Pilot
Program to authorize school districts to offer a
kindergarten readiness program to children who will be
eligible to enter kindergarten in the following year.
Districts participating in the pilot program are required
to admit to kindergarten only children who have their 5th
birthday on or before September 1 of that school year.
(Education Code � 48005.10)
Current law requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to contract for an independent
longitudinal evaluation regarding the effects of the change
in the entry age for kindergarten and first grade. The
independent evaluator's report is to be submitted to the
Legislature, the Governor, the SPI, the state board of
education and the Secretary for Education, as follows:
1) Initial report by June 1, 2009.
2) Interim report by January 1, 2011.
3) Final report by January 1, 2012. (EC � 48005.45)
The Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program was never funded
and was therefore never operational.
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Current law requires that a child be admitted to
kindergarten if the child will have his or her 5th birthday
on or before December 2. SB 1381 (Simitian, Ch. 705, 2010)
phases in new minimum entry ages for kindergarten,
requiring pupils to have his or her 5th birthday as
follows:
1) November 1 for the 2012-13 school year.
2) October 1 for the 2013-14 school year.
3) September 1 for the 2014-15 school year and each year
thereafter.
SB 1381 also made corresponding changes for admittance to
1st grade, and established a transitional kindergarten
program for pupils who would otherwise have been eligible
to enter kindergarten. (EC � 48000)
ANALYSIS
This bill extends by one year, from January 1, 2012, to
January 1, 2013, the date by which the final report of the
Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program is to be submitted.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Purpose of the bill . This bill serves as a
placeholder for any issues that may need to be
addressed legislatively regarding the implementation
of the transitional kindergarten program.
2) Related legislation . SB 634 (Runner) prohibits a
school district from initiating a transitional
kindergarten program unless the Department of Finance
has certified that sufficient funds exist to initiate
transitional kindergarten programs in all school
districts that can enroll eligible children and
requires a district to have a positive financial
certification prior to initiating a transitional
kindergarten program. SB 634 failed passage in this
Committee and has been granted reconsideration.
SB 942 (Committee on Education) deletes references to the
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Secretary for Education throughout the Education Code,
including the section of this bill relating to receipt
of the pilot program report. SB 942 is pending in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
None on file.
OPPOSITION
None on file.