CTA'S State Council Votes to Seek Bill Making Kindergarten Mandatory

After decades and decades of California failing to make kindergarten mandatory, State Council voted unanimously to sponsor legislation to make it so. A legislator will now be sought to carry the bill.

As proposed by the Council's Early Childhood Education Committee, all students who turn 5 years old by Sept. 2, 2014, and every year after, would have to attend kindergarten. Currently, students "who do not attend kindergarten are at a distinct disadvantage when they come to first grade in terms of achievement levels, oral language development," and other areas, a report to Council stated. Also, many parents of kids in kindergarten now pull them out of class routinely because there are no truancy consequences.

Research shows Hispanic and African American children, English learners, and students from low-income families are hurt the most if they enter first grade without experiencing kindergarten. First-grade teacher Kimberly Chevlin told the Council State Legislation Committee about students struggling if they have not had any kindergarten learning. This puts these children "at a huge disadvantage with their peers" at Murrieta Valley Unified School District, Chevlin said.

Because attendance is not mandatory, kindergarten attendance rates are the lowest of all grades in the Oakland Unified School District, and this law would change that, said Kei Swensen, a kindergarten teacher there and a Council delegate. She fought for this bill as a member of the Early Childhood Education Committee. "It's exciting," she said after the Council's vote. "The problem is that academic standards include kindergarten and are not in alignment with California law because attendance is not mandatory."