 Gov. Jerry Brown's 2012-13 budget recommendation to eliminate funding for transitional kindergarten is causing concern among many parents of young children. The move is expected to save the state $223.7 million in 2012-13 and $672 million over three years. But education experts and other early education advocates warn that the action will harm not just children, but the future of education in California.
In the past, California required children to enter kindergarten in the fall if they turned 5 by December 2. The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 shifts back that date requirement for kindergarten admission, phasing it in over a period of three years: November 1 in the fall of 2012, October 1 in 2013 and September 1 in 2014.
The Kindergarten Readiness Act also created a transitional kindergarten program for those children with fall birth dates who would have previously qualified for kindergarten. The program would feature a modified kindergarten curriculum that would be age and developmentally appropriate. According to the author of the Act, Sen. Joe Simitian (D- Palo Alto), the change was long sought by teachers, who reported that children younger than 5 were the ones most likely to flounder and fall behind.
But under Brown's budget proposal, transitional kindergarten would disappear, stranding an estimated 40,000 children this year alone without government-funded school. Low-income working families would find few affordable alternatives for early care and education: Brown also proposed eliminating 71,000 child care slots by July, while the California Department of Education recently announced that many families on CalWORKs Stage 3 might be dis-enrolled due to a funding shortage.
Lack of access to either kindergarten or transitional kindergarten could also have dire effects on a child's development, according to Deborah Stipek, a professor at the Stanford School of Education. "For a 5-year-old, this is a crucial time for laying the foundation for future learning," Stipek said in a San Jose Mercury News opinion piece. "Research has shown that experiences during the first five years of life have long-term effects on children's brains in ways that affect their learning long into their future. And when children enter school, their skills profoundly affect their ability to take advantage of the curriculum."
The loss of transitional kindergarten would also impact the overall state of education. According to Simitian, the displacement of 125,000 children from kindergarten would result in a permanent reduction to the Proposition 98 guarantee for schools. Local districts would also stand to lose an estimated $100 million in special education funding.
"This is a nonstarter," said Catherine Atkin, Preschool California's executive director in an interview with Time. "This is not the time to move backward in providing access to public education." Additional Reading: <<Back to this week's Monday Morning Report. |
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