BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1444
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 1444 (Buchanan and Weber)
As Amended April 22, 2014
2/3 vote
EDUCATION 6-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Gonzalez, Nazarian, | |Bradford, |
| |Weber, Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Ch�vez |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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ASSEMBLY: 54-24 (May 28, 2014) SENATE: 26-8
(August 20, 2014)
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,
$100 million to $200 million (General Fund) annually, in additional
average daily attendance costs statewide.
COMMENTS : Under current law, compulsory education begins at age six
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 2014-15 school year and every year
thereafter.
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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 CDE also reports that 43,753 pupils attended private
kindergarten programs in 2011-12. The CDE estimates that between
90% to 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.
The Education Commission of the States reports that, as of December
2010, 19 states have mandatory kindergarten policies, including
Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, the 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 five, the remaining eight
require students to attend school beginning age six or older.
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
the University of California, 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 kindergarten has a
positive effect on those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.
The study looked at outcomes - both long and short term - in the
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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 five
percent higher as adults.
This bill does not change the age of compulsory education at age
five. 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 six, then they will be older going into all
remaining grades.
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."
The Private School Advocacy Center opposes the bill and 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."
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"This measure makes kindergarten compulsory by requiring all
students to attend one year of kindergarten before entering first
grade.
AB 1444
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"Most children already attend kindergarten, and those that don't may
be enrolled in other educational or developmental programs that are
deemed more appropriate for them by their families.
"I would prefer to let parents determine what is best for their
children, rather than mandate an entirely new grade level."
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0005633