BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1381
AUTHOR: Simitian
AMEDED: March 23, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 14, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Kindergarten: age of admission.
SUMMARY
This bill revises the age of admission to kindergarten and
first grade by one month in each of three years so that in
2014 and later years, a child will have to be 5 years old on
or before September 1 in order to attend kindergarten. This
bill also states the intent of the Legislature that one half
of the savings generated from the revised entry dates be used
for purposes of expanding the state preschool program.
BACKGROUND
Existing law requires a child to be admitted to kindergarten
at the beginning of a school year if the child will be 5
years old on or before December 2 of that school year.
Current law allows a school district to admit, on a
case-by-case basis, children who turn 5 at any time during
the school year provided that a) the parent gives permission,
b) the district determines early admittance is in the best
interest of the child, and c) the parent or guardian is given
information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of
early admittance. (Education Code 48000)
Existing law requires a child to 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 December 2, of that school year. (EC 48010)
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)
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Existing law establishes the California State Preschool
Program for purposes of providing part-day and full-day
educational development program to three and four year old
children. (EC 8235)
Existing law (AB 25, Mazzoni, Chapter 1022, Statutes of 1999)
establishes the Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program for the
purpose of providing incentive funding to districts to change
the entry date of kindergarten to September 1 and to provide
prekindergarten education for children to enhance their
readiness for kindergarten. To date, the Legislature has not
appropriated funding for this program. (EC 48005.10 et.
seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Phases in new minimum entry-ages for kindergarten. The
bill requires a child to be admitted to kindergarten at
the beginning of a school year or 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:
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.
2) States the intent of the Legislature to appropriate in
the annual Budget Act one-half of the savings resulting
from changes enacted by this bill for purposes of
expanding the state preschool program.
3) Specifies children who have their fifth birthday on or
before the dates described above may be admitted to a
pre-kindergarten summer program operated by a school
district.
4) Phases in new entry-ages for admission to first grade to
conform to the new entry ages for kindergarten.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : In a majority of states, children
must turn five by September 1st in order to start
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kindergarten. In California, children can start
kindergarten as young as four years and nine months.
According to the author's office, California's December
2 cutoff date allows too many children to enter
kindergarten before they are developmentally ready,
which may contribute to low student achievement. By
establishing a later start date, SB 1381 could help
ensure that more kindergartners are developmentally
ready to handle the academic demands of today's
kindergarten while creating an estimated $700 million in
savings due to a smaller cohort of students that would
transition through the K-12 system.
2) Age of admission practice and policy . State law and
parental practice influence the age at which a child
begins school. In recent years, an increased focus on
pupil achievement and school accountability, along with
eroding fiscal resources have prompted many states to
move up the entry age for kindergarten. California's
cut off date, however, remains one of the latest in the
nation. According to the Education Commission of the
States (ECS), California is one of four states, in
addition to Connecticut, Michigan and Vermont, with a
cut-off date after December 1. Studies indicate that
about five to ten percent of parents voluntarily delay
the start of kindergarten for children who are otherwise
eligible to attend (often referred to as "redshirting")
in order to increase the child's chances for academic
and social success.
While redshirting tends to raise the average age of
kindergartners, some researchers have suggested that it
contributes to the achievement gap because it is most
often practiced by middle class and affluent parents who
can afford to provide their "young fives" with
pre-school to prepare them for school. It is unclear
whether changing the start date to September 1 will
reduce the practice of redshirting. Will a child with
an August birthday be the new "young five?"
In recent years, the California Performance Review, the
Governor's Committee on Education Excellence, the
Legislative Analyst, and numerous legislative proposals
have recommended requiring a child to turn five before
entering kindergarten. In addition benefiting children,
changing California's kindergarten start date could
result in more equitable comparisons on national
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achievement tests such as the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP). Given increasing federal
accountability requirements and recent efforts to
develop common core standards across states, aligning
California's kindergarten start date with other states
could provide policymakers with a more realistic means
of comparing the progress of California students with
those in other states.
3) Academic effects . Research indicates that a number of
factors are associated with school success including
socioeconomic status, English language fluency at school
entry, access to preschool, and the developmental
maturity of a pupil when he or she enters school.
Numerous studies have explored school readiness and the
age of entry into kindergarten.
Although the studies are somewhat limited because of the
variability in the amount and quality of preschool,
family characteristics, and a child's age relative to
the cut-off date, some research suggests that children
who are older when they start school enjoy more school
success. A 2004 study by the RAND Corporation suggests
that entering kindergarten later can significantly boost
test scores at entry, especially for children from low
socioeconomic backgrounds. The RAND study also suggests
that test score gains persist for these children through
the early school years.
A 2008 paper published by the Public Policy Institute of
California (PPIC) suggests that all things remaining
equal, moving the entrance cutoff date to September 1
would likely boost average scores on the California
Standards Tests, and NAEP. However, PPIC notes that
research indicates that a student's relative age at
entry is an important predictor of academic success:
Students who are expected to be the oldest in their
class score higher on achievement tests all the way
through high school than do students expected to be the
youngest. PPIC concludes by noting that "the effect of
an entrance policy change on the achievement gap depends
on the extent to which it reduces academic redshirting
and the extent to which it results in further
disparities in skill acquisition prior to kindergarten
entry."
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Yet a study by the Society for Research in Child
Development (Stipek, 2002) suggests that the quality of
a child's school experience makes a greater contribution
to academic achievement than does delaying the age in
which the child begins kindergarten. In contrast to the
RAND study, Stipek 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 for
kindergarten, particularly if they are developmentally
"ready to learn." Stipek asks "Are [these children]
"better served by having more time out of school or by
having more time in an instructional environment?" To
the extent that SB 1381 would enable at least some
low-income five year olds to participate in the state
preschool program, the measure could help more children
develop the foundational skills needed for kindergarten.
4) Socioeconomic effects While the RAND study suggests
that children who are older when they enter kindergarten
experience faster gains in test scores over time
compared to children who enter kindergarten at a younger
age, the study also recognizes that for families with
children with later birthdays, the extra time often
translates to extra child care/preschool costs. Because
these costs can be significant and may
disproportionately impact low-income families, the RAND
study suggests that policymakers view entrance age
policies and childcare policies as a package.
While SB 1381 expresses legislative intent to direct half of
the savings that would come from enrolling fewer
students, to the state preschool program, it is not
clear how much funding would be needed to accommodate
the increased demand. The phase-in process specified by
SB 1381 could result in some 100,000 children needing an
extra year of childcare/preschool over the three-year
phase in period. While not all of these children would
qualify for state preschool, the increase in demand
would add to the current demand for this program. The
California Department of Education (CDE) indicates that
there are currently 87,000 children on the waiting list
for the state preschool program. To effectively address
the demand created by delaying the start of
kindergarten, it may be appropriate to fund the state
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preschool program at a level sufficient to clear the
existing waiting list and accommodate the low-income
children who would otherwise be enrolled in
kindergarten.
The State Preschool Program was established to serve
three and four year old children. Without a change to
this statute, it is not clear that five year olds
ineligible for kindergarten would be eligible to
participate in state preschool programs. Moreover, it
is not clear how they would be prioritized for
participation.
Recommended amendments:
Technical amendment: for greater clarification,
specifying the intent of the Legislature to direct half
of the savings to the California State Preschool Program
pursuant to 8235 of the Education Code.
Add language expressing the intent of the Legislature to
allow four and five year olds who are not eligible for
kindergarten to participate in the California State
Preschool Program pursuant to 8235 of the Education
Code.
5) Fiscal impact . The Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) has
recommended that the Legislature change the kindergarten
start date from December 2 to September 1 beginning in
the 2011-12 school year. Although it is unclear how the
change would impact the amount the state is required to
spend on schools in 2011-12, the LAO estimates that
changing the start date to September 1 could reduce
kindergarten enrollment by approximately 100,000
students in that year, which could free up roughly $700
million from revenue limits and categorical programs,
which could be redirected for other purposes such as
subsidized preschool for affected low-income families.
By moving up the start date by one month each year, SB 1381
would phase in the estimated $700 million in savings
over a three-year period. This savings could be less
depending on how many potential kindergartners are
"redshirted." It is possible that there may be no
savings in the first year because declining enrollment
provisions in revenue limits. Under current law,
districts are funded at the greater of their current or
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prior year Average Daily Attendance (ADA). To ensue the
savings are captured during the first year the
enrollment date changes, the bill should include
language waiving the declining enrollment provision of
law for the proportion of "lost" ADA attributable to the
change in entrance date in 2012-13.
6) Kindergarten Readiness Pilot Program . This program was
established for the purpose of testing the costs and
benefits of changing the entry date for kindergarten.
The program would have provided funding to school
districts to compensate them for the temporary loss of
Average Daily Attendance (ADA) caused by changing
kindergarten enrollment dates and required districts to
provide pre-kindergarten instruction as a condition of
receiving funds. The purpose was to provide a
kindergarten readiness program for the children most at
risk of low performance and delaying entry to allow
children time to become more developmentally ready to
learn. Because this program was never implemented,
there are no data available about the effectiveness of
moving the entry-age for kindergarten.
7) Related and prior legislation .
AB 1967 (Mendoza). This bill would change the
kindergarten start date to November 2 for 2012-13
school year, October 2 for the 2013-14 school year,
and September 2 for the 2014-15 school year and
each year thereafter.
AB 2759 (Jones, Chapter 308, Statutes of
2008). This bill consolidated the State Preschool
program and the portion of general child care and
development program that serves three and four-year
olds into one preschool program, establishing the
California State Preschool Program.
AB 1236 (Mullin, 2008). This bill would have
established a two-year kindergarten pilot program.
This bill was held by the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
AB 683 (S. Runner, 2008). This bill 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
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grade. This bill was held by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 2596 (G. Runner, 2006). This bill 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 would have also required savings
to be allocated to CDE to provide reimbursements
for child care and development services for
low-income families. This bill was held by the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 1764 (G. Runner, 2006). This bill 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 4 year olds. This bill was
held by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
None received.
OPPOSITION
None received.