Senate Subcommittee Joins Assembly in Rejecting Governor’s Proposal to Eliminate Transitional Kindergarten
04.12.2012 | Preschool California
For Immediate Release
April 12, 2012
For more information:
Jennifer Kern (415) 277-6975, jkern@prandcompany.com
Deborah Kong (415) 385-4288, dkong@preschoolcalifornia.org
Senate Subcommittee Joins Assembly in Rejecting Governor’s Proposal to Eliminate Transitional Kindergarten
Legislature’s Message to School Districts: Transitional Kindergarten Will Remain Law
Sacramento, CA – April 12, 2012 – In a critical move towards ensuring no child is denied their right to kindergarten, the California State Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education today voted to reject the governor’s budget proposal to eliminate transitional kindergarten. The California Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance already voted to reject the governor’s proposal on March 13.
“We applaud the Senate in joining the Assembly in voting to reject the governor’s misguided proposal that could block up to 125,000 children from public schools,” said Catherine Atkin, president of Preschool California. “With today’s vote, the state legislature is sending a clear message that should erase any doubt in school districts’ minds: transitional kindergarten will remain California state law.”
The Senate and Assembly votes reflect the strong, statewide support for transitional kindergarten.
“It’s important to underscore with transitional kindergarten, we’re not talking about serving any new children…We’re talking about serving the same group of children who for the last 60 years have been eligible to start school if they turn 5 by December 2nd,” said State Senator Joe Simitian. “If we go down this path, the governor’s proposal will result in the largest disenfranchisement of public school students in the history of the country…”
“The savings [from the governor’s proposal] are unclear. Given our earlier discussion… whatever savings that possibly might have occurred are gone. Given…the 60-year policy [of serving these students in public school], I would move at this point that we not support and reject the governor’s proposal,” said State Senator Roderick Wright.
The Senate’s vote marks the latest in a series of victories for giving California’s youngest learners the access to education to which they are entitled by law. Nearly 170 school districts have already announced they are moving ahead with implementing transitional kindergarten this fall.
A map of California school districts implementing transitional kindergarten is available at http://www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/our-issues/transitional-kindergarten/map.html.
“Today’s Senate action sends a strong message that the funding and support for transitional kindergarten remains intact,” Senator Simitian said. “This should go a long way toward quelling the uncertainty that was out there as districts work on getting their transitional kindergarten classes up and running for the upcoming school year.”
Parents, educators and advocates from across the state, including the California Federation of Teachers, the Advancement Project, Preschool California, and business groups including the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bay Area Council, thanked the subcommittee for its vote to ensure all children have equal access to education by upholding the existing law.
“Thank you for your vote on transitional kindergarten. We were early and enthusiastic supporters of the bill. TK is a wonderful example of doing more with less and using existing dollars to provide services to children in a more age-appropriate manner,” said Matt Regan, vice president of public policy at the Bay Area Council. “…TK provides tangible long-term savings for a lot of school districts.”
The Save Kindergarten Coalition of school districts, superintendents, educators, parents, business and civic leaders and child advocates reject the governor’s proposal and applauds the California state legislature’s vote to follow the Kindergarten Readiness Act that established transitional kindergarten and remains state law. Learn more about the Save Kindergarten Campaign at: www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/savekindergarten.
Fully implementing transitional kindergarten is in accordance with The Kindergarten Readiness Act – the California law that changed the kindergarten entry date so that children enter school at age 5 and establishing transitional kindergarten, a developmentally-appropriate grade to serve those younger students with birthdays between September and December. The governor’s budget proposal is at odds with The Kindergarten Readiness Act, which remains the law and could impact 1 out of 4 kindergarten-aged students.
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About Preschool California
Preschool California is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to increase access to high-quality early learning for all of California’s children, starting with those who need it most. Learn more at: www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/savekindergarten.
California State Assembly and Senate district maps illustrating the number of kids who could lose their right to kindergarten this fall in each legislative district are available at: http://www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/resources/resource-files/tk-assembly-map.pdf and http://www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/resources/resource-files/tk-senate-map.pdf.
A map of California school districts implementing transitional kindergarten is available at www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/tkmap.
Impacted parent profiles and photos are available at: www.earlyedgecalifornia.org/tkparents.
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