Quest for best could kill good kindergarten bill
Posted in kindergarten
The latest effort, Sen. Joe Simitian’s SB 1381, has passed the Senate and is halfway home. Whether it ultimately becomes law will depend on whether Simitian can hold the middle ground on what to do with savings generated by bill.
SB 1381 would require that students starting kindergarten must turn five by Sept. 1 of the school year, instead of Dec. 2, the current deadline. Moving up the start date by three months would reduce enrollment by an estimated 100,000 children – one quarter of kindergartners for that year – and save as much as $700 million, depending whether the change is made in one year or, as Simitian proposes, is phased in over three years, with less initial savings.
There’s little dispute that most 4-year-olds aren’t developmentally ready for kindergarten. What’s defeated past bills are disagreements on what to do with the money.
Simitian’s compromise is to split the savings, with half applied to reduce a $19 billion state budget deficit and half committed as additional spending for state-funded preschool. The Legislative Analyst projects there would be enough money to serve 29,000 of the 4-year-olds whose kindergarten would be delayed and whose family incomes qualify for the state program, plus an additional 59,000