Charters balk at new pre-kindergarten law

Charters balk at new pre-kindergarten law:

Charters balk at new pre-kindergarten law

September 17, 2012, 05:00 AM By Christina Hoag The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES  — A California law requires public schools to add a grade level this fall designed to give the very youngest students a boost when they enroll in kindergarten, but charter schools say the law does not apply to them, pitting them against the state Department of Education. The education department says the 2010 Kindergarten Readiness Act requiring transitional kindergarten programs applies to all public schools, including charters. “The department believes if a school offers kindergarten, it’s also obligated to offer transitional kindergarten,” said department spokesman Paul Hefner. The California Charter Schools Association, however, analyzed the law at length and told its members that transitional kindergarten is optional, said Colin Miller, the association’s vice president of policy. More than 800 school districts rolled out transitional kindergarten programs this school year in compliance with the law, but many charter