SB 407

This bill changes the age at which a child may attend four-year-old

kindergarten. Under current law, a child is eligible to attend four-year-old

kindergarten if the child is four years old on September 1 in the year the child

proposes to enter school. The bill provides that a child may attend four-year-old

kindergarten if the child is four years old on September 1 or will be four years old on

December 31 in the school year that the child proposes to enter school. In addition,

a child may be admitted to the first quarter or semester of a four-year-old

kindergarten beginning after January 1 of that school year if the child is four years

old on January 1 or will be four years old on June 30 in that school year.

Under current law, if a school board establishes a four-year-old kindergarten

program, the school board must make the program available to all pupils who are

eligible for the program. The bill provides a transitional period for school boards that

were operating a four-year-old kindergarten program in the 2019-20 school year.

Under the bill, such a school board does not have to make its existing four-year-old

kindergarten program available to the additional pupils eligible under the bill until

the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.