BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1444
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 1444 (Buchanan and Weber) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
SUBJECT : Elementary education: kindergarten
SUMMARY : Requires, beginning in the 2016-17 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)
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)
AB 1444
Page 2
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.
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 : Unknown
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 for the
AB 1444
Page 3
2014-15 school year and every year thereafter.
This bill requires kids to attend kindergarten before enrolling
in first grade. In the 2011-12 school year, 488,742 pupils were
enrolled in kindergarten out of a total enrollment of 6,220,993.
The California Department of Education (CDE) also reports that
43,753 pupils attended private kindergarten programs in 2011-12.
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 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 also 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
AB 1444
Page 4
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
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. The author believes that all kids should be required to
attend kindergarten but also believes that parents should have
the ability to start them at an older age if that is what they
believe to be developmentally best for their kids. 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, "Research supports the
importance of early childhood education. The new Common Core
State Standards have academic expectations for kindergarten
students. If children don't attend kindergarten, they begin
first grade behind and may finish high school behind. This bill
ensures all children begin first grade with the foundation for
future success, while providing parents the flexibility to
determine when the child is developmentally ready for
kindergarten."
Arguments in opposition . The Private School Advocacy Center
states, "Mandatory kindergarten creates an unjustified financial
burden on two classes of citizens in the state of California.
First, those that have children that will have to attend a
private school one additional year. These parents, may already
be suffering financially, may not be able to afford the
education location of their choice or will have to go further in
debt to accommodate their child. Secondly, citizens of the
state of California will have to pick up the additional cost of
buildings and facilities to accommodate these new students
entering public schools."
Previous related legislation . AB 1772 (Buchanan), held in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file in 2012, was
identical to this bill.
AB 1444
Page 5
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
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
California Teachers Association (sponsor)
California Child Development Administrators Association
Opposition
Independent Private Schools of California
Private School Advocacy Center
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087