KINDERGARTEN MEASURE WOULD BOOST STUDENTS EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES
A contingent of CTA members came to the state Capitol Aug. 9 to urge lawmakers to pass a measure designed to boost the student performance and academic readiness of kindergartners.
CTA-supported AB 25, introduced by Assembly Education Chair Kerry Mazzoni (D-San Rafael), seeks to help California's youngest students get started on a road that will lead to higher success in school and in careers.
AB 25 would:
- Set a new minimum enrollment age for kindergarten - 5 years - to help ensure students are developmentally ready to succeed in today's more rigorous academic environment, which begins in the earliest grades.
- Fund cost-effective readiness programs. This provision reflects the fact that California has adopted tough new standards for all grades, making it more difficult for youngsters to succeed in kindergarten without pre-school readiness experiences, such as early childhood education programs.
- Require for the first time in state history that students complete kindergarten before enrolling in first grade. This provision will help ensure that first-graders are ready to succeed.
- Hold schools financially "harmless" for any resulting enrollment drops. Thus, schools would not suffer funding losses that could undermine efforts to achieve academic excellence.
The bill would phase in the change in the kindergarten age by the 2005-06 school year. At that time, students will have to have turned 5 years of age on or before Sept. 1 in order to start kindergarten.
Lawmakers were planning to act on the measure prior to the end of this year's legislative session.
Len Feldman