This Week Inside the Capitol

Thousands of parents struggle with these types of decisions as their kindergarteners, with fresh, cherubic faces, head off to school each fall for the first time – some children bouncing with excitement and others plagued by nerves. To enter kindergarten, they must turn five by December 2. California is only one of a handful of states with a December cut-off date. In most states, children must turn five by June 1 or September 1. 

Today’s kindergarten may not be what you remember – an idyllic time strong on pretend and play and short on academics; as emphasis in grades one to twelve has increasingly shifted to achievement and test scores, today’s kindergarten has evolved into another year of academics. Some parents, fearing their younger child might not be ready for organized academics, choose to “redshirt” their child, allowing an extra year of development before placing them into kindergarten.

For the last decade or so, the policy debate has raged among educational experts and lawmakers over the best cut-off age for kindergarten entrance in California, one of only a handful of states with the December cut-off. Dozens of legislative proposals have been introduced, only to meet their demise over the issue of how to spend the financial savings – apply it to preschool/education programs or allow the yawning California budget gap to reabsorb it? The Governor's Committee on Education Excellence, an independent, non-partisan, privately funded group tasked with recommending improvements to K-12 public schools, has projected that moving the entry date from December to September will exclude 100,000 late-birthday children, creating a one-time state savings of $700 million.  

This year, Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) introduced a proposal that would have done both. SB 1381, as it passed the Senate in June, would have split the estimated $700 million in savings between the budget deficit and state preschool programs. However, the Assembly-amended version that barely passed the Senate in the final minutes of the legislative session last week, ignored the budget deficit and funded a new transitional year of kindergarten for those youngsters with fall birthdays, who would now have to wait a year to begin school. 

Phasing in the cut-off date change over three years, SB 1381 shifts the kindergarten/first-grade cut-off age from December 1 to November 1 in 2012-13, October 1 in 2013-14, and September 1 in 2014-15. A new kindergarten-readiness program or junior kindergarten for boys and girls affected by the transition will cost the state at least $700 million annually and wipe out any budget savings. Legislative language defines this “transitional kindergarten” as “the first year of a two-year kindergarten program that uses a modified kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate.”

Essentially a state-financed additional extra year of preschool for children with fall birthdays, the transitional program would provide two years of preparation for first grade. Staffed by credentialed teachers, the transitional program would include a curriculum focused on fine-motor skills and simplified lessons such as writing one’s name, and counting. These students would be included in the counting of the average daily attendance of a school district, assuring districts of no decline in state funding. Several districts, including Los Angeles Unified School District, already offer pilot transitional programs.

After passing the Senate by only one vote, SB 1381 is now on the governor’s desk with numerous other bills awaiting his signature or veto prior to the end of the month.  You can express your opinion on any of those measures, by visiting CFC’s legislative action center. If you haven’t yet sounded off on SB 543 (parental consent) or SB 906 (marriage), please do so.

SB 677 (Yee, D-San Francisco) – would allow for the property seizure of those convicted of human trafficking.  

SB 834 (Florez, D-Bakersfield) – would allow a court to prohibit communication between a convicted sex offender and a minor victim.

SB 906 (Leno, D-San Francisco) – would create a new class of marriage – “civil” marriage, likely an incremental precursor to redefining what marriage is.

SB 962 (Liu, D-Glendale) – would allow incarcerated parents – who have waived their right to attend the hearing terminating their parental rights – to view the hearing via videoconferencing. SB 962 would also allow the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to accept donated materials and services to implement a program at a prison determined by the Department for the participation of incarcerated parents in dependency court hearings.

SB 1064 (Alquist, D-San Jose) – would make changes, including requiring the creation of a succession plan, to the stem-cell agency created by voters with Proposition 71 in 2004.

SB 1317 (Leno, D-San Francisco) – would hold a parent criminally responsible for the chronic truancy of a child over six years of age in grades 1-8. Misdemeanor crime could be punishable by a fine up to $2,000, one-year imprisonment, or both.
Passed Assembly 58-17
Senate concurred in Assembly amendments 23-13
To Governor

SB 1451 (Yee, D-San Francisco) – requires the California State Board of Education to review proposed textbooks for content deemed to result from recent changes to the Texas Administrative Code – and to insure that the materials satisfy guidelines in current California law. The bill would also require the board to keep the Secretary for Education, and the chairpersons of both the Senate and Assembly education policy committees informed of this information.
Passed Assembly 50-28
Senate concurred in Assembly amendments 22-14
To Governor  

AB 34 (Nava, D-Santa Barbara) – part of a package of bills to enable quicker law enforcement response time in the event of reported missing children, AB 34 would require the release of certain information to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to assist in the search for the missing person or persons. If the missing person is under age 21 – and there is evidence the person is at risk – within two hours the law enforcement agency will send the report to the Department of Justice for inclusion in the Violent Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center databases.

AB 1022 (Nava, D-Santa Barbara) – part of a package of bills to enable quicker law enforcement response time in the event of reported missing children, AB 1022 would establish a director position within the Department of Justice to help law enforcement agencies with the search and recovery of at-risk abducted children, and maintaining up-to-date knowledge and expertise of the best methods and technologies to recover missing children.

AB 1841 (Buchanan, D-San Ramon) – would conform California law with federal law, which prohibits a public agency from continuing to provide special education or related services to a child whose parents or guardian have withdrawn their consent in writing. 

AB 1844 (Fletcher, R-San Diego) – known as Chelsea’s Law, this bill would provide increased potential punishments for sexual crimes when the victim is a minor.
Assembly concurred in Senate amendments 74-0
To Governor

AB 2199 (Lowenthal, D-Long Beach) – would delete state code sections that require research into the causes and cures of homosexual behavior. Additionally, this bill would require the State Department of Mental Health to conduct research into sex crimes against children and into methods of identifying those who commit sexual offenses.

AB 2416 (Cook, R-Yucaipa) – Current law provides that a party's absence, relocation, or failure to comply with custody and visitation orders is not, by itself, sufficient to justify modification of a custody or visitation order if the failure is due to activation to military service and deployment out of state. AB 2416 would expand this provision to cover additional military-related deployments.

AB 2444 (Furutani, D-Long Beach) – would require that – if a district has an enrolled student, per a transfer agreement between two districts – the student may remain in the outside district without having to annually re-obtain waiver approval.

AB 2700 – (Ma, D-San Francisco) enables domestic partners who have married each other to dissolve both their marriage and their partnership in a single proceeding.

AB 1844 (Fletcher, R-San Diego) – known as Chelsea’s Law, this bill would provide increased potential punishments for sexual crimes when the victim is a minor.
Passed Senate 36-0
Assembly floor (concurrence)