BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 634
AUTHOR: Runner
AMENDED: April 7, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 27, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Kindergarten: Transitional kindergarten.
SUMMARY
This bill 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.
BACKGROUND
Existing law, the Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010,
requires a child to be admitted to kindergarten at the
beginning of a school year, or at a later time in the same
year, if the child will have his or her fifth birthday on
or before one of the following dates:
(1) December 2, of the 2011-12 school year.
(2) November 1, of the 2012-13 school year.
(3) October 1, of the 2013-14 school year.
(4) September 1, of the 2014-15 school year.
To serve pupils displaced by the change in kindergarten
admission cutoff dates, existing law provides a
transitional kindergarten program as the first year of a
two-year kindergarten program that uses a modified
kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally
appropriate and requires school districts and charter
schools, as a condition of receipt of apportionment for the
program, to admit a child to the program:
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(1) In the 2012-13 school year, if the child
will have his or her fifth birthday between
November 2 and December 2.
(2) In the 2013-14 school year, if the child
will have his or her fifth birthday between
October 2 and December 2.
(3) In the 2014-15 school year, and each
school year thereafter, a child who will have his
or fifth birthday between September 2 and
December 2. (EC � 48000)
Existing law does not require a pupil to enroll in
kindergarten but does subject each person between the ages
of 6 and 18 years of age to compulsory full-time education,
unless exempted pursuant to prescribed provisions of law.
(EC � 48200)
Existing law establishes the State Preschool Program for
purposes of providing part-day and full-day programs of
educational development for three-and four-year old
children. (EC � 8235)
Existing law requires the governing board of a school
district to certify on a biannual basis, whether or not,
based on current projections, the district will be able to
meet its financial obligation for the remainder of the
fiscal year. The certification must be in one of the
following categories:
a) Positive - assigned to a school district
that, based on current projections, will meet its
financial obligations for the current fiscal year
and subsequent two fiscal years.
b) Qualified - assigned to a school district
that, based on current projections, may not meet
its financial obligations for the current year or
two subsequent fiscal years.
c) Negative - assigned to a school district
that, based on current projections, will be
unable to meet its financial obligations for the
current year or the subsequent fiscal year. (EC
� 42131)
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ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Prohibits a school district from initiating a
Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program, unless the
Department of Finance (DOF) certifies that sufficient
funds exist to initiate transitional kindergarten
programs in all school districts that can enroll
eligible children, including children of all
socioeconomic statuses, English learners, and
individuals with exceptional needs, as specified,
without removing funds from existing state programs or
services.
2) Prohibits a school district that has a qualified or
negative financial certification from initiating a
transitional kindergarten.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Background . In the 2012-13 school year, children will
need to be 5 years old by November 1 in order to be
eligible to enroll in kindergarten. The Kindergarten
Readiness Act of 2010 (SB 1381, Simitian, Chapter 705,
2010), phases in the admission cutoff date in each of
the two subsequent school years and will remain at
September 1 beginning in the 2014-15 school year. The
purpose of this legislation was to ensure that
children are developmentally ready to handle the
academic demands of today's kindergarten when they
begin school. The bill also created a Transitional
Kindergarten (TK) program to enable children displaced
by the new admission dates (children with birthdays
between the admission date and December 2) to enroll
in a two-year kindergarten, where they would receive a
modified kindergarten curriculum in the first year and
the regular kindergarten curriculum in the second
year. As enacted, SB 1381 allows school districts to
claim apportionment for pupils in a TK program.
The Legislative Analyst has provided a list of alternative
actions to balance the 2011-12 state budget if the
Legislature needs to address an estimated $4.8 billion
in Proposition 98 reductions for the coming year. In
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presenting options that could be coupled with policy
changes, the Legislative Analyst noted that the state
could modify recent statute to require children to be
five years of age prior to enrolling in kindergarten
beginning in 2011-12. The Legislative Analyst Office
(LAO) estimates that moving the kindergarten cutoff
date to September 1 beginning in the 2011-12 school
year would reduce average daily attendance by
approximately 135,000 students and would reduce costs
statewide by $700 million.
2) Reasonable trigger ? This bill would essentially
suspend the transitional kindergarten program. SB 634
establishes a statewide "trigger" for implementation
of transitional kindergarten programs by requiring the
Department of Finance (DOF) to certify that sufficient
funds exist to initiate TK programs in all school
districts that can enroll eligible children, and
establishes a local trigger by prohibiting individual
school districts from initiating a TK program unless
they have a positive financial certification.
While suspension of the TK program would be consistent with
the option presented by the LAO, the bill does not
specify how "sufficient funds" would be defined. When
Proposition 98 is under Test 1 or Test 2 conditions?
When the Proposition 98 maintenance factor has been
met and deferrals restored? When the state determines
it can pay K-12 mandate claims? What happens if there
are sufficient funds one year but not the next? Staff
recommends that this be clarified.
There are currently 110 school districts with a negative or
qualified status, including Oakland, Los Angeles, Elk
Grove, and Sacramento City unified school districts.
In the last two years, the number of districts with
these designations has increased as the state's budget
crisis has deepened. However, since the
certifications are based on projections and
assumptions that can change depending on what is
included in the Governor's Budget, May Revision, and
the Budget Act, it is not unusual for a district to go
in and out of "qualified" status within the same year
or across years. Could this fluidity make it
difficult for districts to identify precisely when a
TK program could be implemented and maintained at the
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local level?
3) Impact on families and children . One of the major
issues identified in the policy debate about changing
the kindergarten admission dates was the developmental
and fiscal impact new cutoff dates could have on
families and children. Some studies suggest that
children who are older when they start school enjoy
more school success. A 2004 study by the RAND
Corporation noted that entering kindergarten later can
significantly boost test scores at entry, especially
for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. A
study by the Society for Research in Child Development
(Stipek, 2002) also suggests that the quality of a
child's school experience makes a greater contribution
to academic achievement than does delaying
kindergarten start dates. Stipek further notes that
children from low-income families, who may already be
at risk of starting school behind their middle-class
peers may be further disadvantaged by delaying the
start date if they are developmentally ready to learn
and are not in an instructional environment prior to
kindergarten. Finally, the RAND study noted that for
families with children with later birthdays, delaying
the kindergarten start date can result in extra child
care or preschool costs. Because these costs can be
significant and may disproportionately impact
low-income families, the RAND study encouraged
policymakers to view entrance age policies and
childcare policies as a package.
In response to these concerns, SB 1381 was amended in the
Assembly Education Committee to establish the
transitional kindergarten program. By suspending the
TK program, families of children who would have
otherwise been eligible to enroll in a TK program
could incur another year of childcare costs while
their children become old enough to be admitted to
kindergarten. Given the long waiting lists, age
restrictions and income caps, the State Preschool
Program will not be an option for most displaced
children. However, to minimize the hardship on very
low-income families, the state could enable children
currently enrolled in a state preschool program who
are displaced by the new cutoff dates to remain in the
program until they are enrolled in kindergarten.
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While this would require changing eligibility
requirements in the State Preschool statute, it could
help minimize the impact on the neediest families.
Another option would be to propose a constitutional
amendment that would modify the After School Education
and Safety Program Act of 2002, enacted by Proposition
49, to enable before and after school programs to
provide a transitional kindergarten program.
4) Impact on schools . Some school districts already
offer kindergarten readiness programs for "young
fives" and many districts have begun planning for the
implementation of TK programs in their schools. While
there are sound policy arguments for minimizing the
impact the new kindergarten admission dates would have
on families and children by providing a
pre-kindergarten experience, SB 634 raises the
question of whether it is sound fiscal policy to
implement a new program, however worthy, at a time
when the state and schools are facing significant
budget constraints.
At the same time, delaying the implementation of the TK
program could have a negative impact schools. While
the state would realize Proposition 98 savings,
individual school districts would lose the revenue
limit some special needs children. Federal law
requires school districts to serve three and four-year
old children with special needs who have an
Individualized Education Program (IEP). Suspending
the TK program could result in schools losing revenue
limit and special education funding for those special
needs children who must be served and could have been
enrolled in a TK program. While this would presumably
be only a few children in a district, this loss of
revenue could add to the considerable uncertainty
districts may face in 2012. Should this bill move
forward, an option the Legislature could consider
would be to hold districts harmless for this small
cohort of pupils.
5) Impact on state resources . The Legislature debated
the costs and merits of the transitional kindergarten
program when it passed SB 1381 in 2010. Although
suspending the implementation of TK programs would
reduce statewide costs associated with Average Daily
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Attendance (ADA) for students enrolled in a TK
program, one could argue that the suspension would
shift costs to families and already impacted social
service programs for child care or preschool services.
Given that it is yet unclear whether the Legislature
will need to address additional Proposition 98
reductions for the 2011-12 fiscal year, does SB 634
propose a solution that may not be necessary or should
at least be considered in light of other budget
solutions that may need to be adopted if the
Legislature or the voters reject the Governor's tax
extension proposals?
6) Related and prior legislation .
SB 30 (Simitian) makes technical, non-substantive changes
to provisions of law relating to a longitudinal
evaluation regarding the effects of the change in the
entry age for kindergarten and first grade. This bill
is pending before this Committee.
AB 1967 (Mendoza, 2009) would have changed the kindergarten
start date and provided a revenue limit for
transitional kindergarten programs. This measure was
held by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2759 (Jones, Chapter 308, Statutes of 2008) consolidated
the State Preschool program and the portion of general
child care and development programs that serve three
and four-year olds into one preschool program,
establishing the California State Preschool Program.
AB 1236 (Mullin, 2008) would have established a two-year
kindergarten pilot program. This bill was held by the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 683 (Sharon Runner, 2008) proposed to move 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. This bill was held by the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 2596 (George Runner, 2006) would have phased in new
admission cutoff dates for kindergarten and first
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grade. This bill would have also required savings
associated with the delayed start to be allocated to
the California Department of Education (CDE) to
provide reimbursements for child care and development
services for low-income families. This bill was held
by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1764 (George Runner, 2006) would have changed the age of
admission to kindergarten, but required any savings
realized by these changes to be appropriated to
increase access to preschool programs for at-risk four
year olds. This bill was held by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
None received.
OPPOSITION
California Association of School Psychologists
California Association of Suburban School Districts
California Federation of Teachers
California Preschool
California Teachers Association
Preschool California
Santa Clara County Office of Education
Washington School