California Bill Would Make Kindergarten Mandatory for Children

An elementary school teacher works with her students in Pacoima, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2019. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

A California bill would make kindergarten mandatory for children if it is approved by state lawmakers and signed by the governor later this year.

Existing law requires full-time school attendance for children between the ages of 6 and 18. If passed, Assembly Bill 2226 would go into effect for the 2027–28 school year.

“We know the achievement gap is present before children attend first grade,” the bill’s author Democrat Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi told The Epoch Times in a statement July 12.

He said California is making strides toward increasing early educational skills for young children through programs like transitional kindergarten and the California State Preschool Program, which assists preschool-aged children with transitioning into kindergarten.

“To fully realize this goal, we must ensure that all children attend kindergarten to build the foundational skills and knowledge necessary to support their ongoing academic and social-emotional success,” he said.

According to a June Education Committee analysis, the proposed law would extend to charter schools. Parents would still have the option to enroll their children in a private school or homeschool, according to the bill.

Parental rights advocacy group Family Protection Ministries originally opposed the bill.

“We removed our opposition to the Kindergarten bill … due to the exemption for students attending private schools in a campus school or homeschooling,” executive director Nathan Pierce told The Epoch Times.

The bill passed in the Assembly in May with a vote of 61–11. Assemblyman Bill Essayli was one of the 11 Republicans who voted against it.

He told The Epoch Times that his primary reason for opposing the bill was for “financial reasons.”

In May, the Assembly Committee on Appropriations estimated the bill would potentially cost $100 million annually.

Mr. Essayli cited the state’s nearly $50 billion budget deficit and said it’s a bad time to pay for more services the state couldn’t afford.

Republican Assemblywoman Diane Dixon also opposed the bill. “We should not be prioritizing taxpayer dollars for new spending at a time when the state made brutal cuts to critical programs,” she said July 12.

In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a nearly identical bill authored by Sen. Susan Rubio—who also co-authored this year’s version—that would have mandated kindergarten beginning in the 2024–25 school year.

At the time of veto, Mr. Newsom said the measure would have had a cost impact of an estimated ongoing $268 million or more from the state’s Proposition 98 general fund—a 1988 measure that established minimum funding guarantees for California’s K–12 schools and community colleges.

Currently, according to the California Department of Education, there are 370,750 enrolled kindergartners statewide. According to an April analysis by the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee, about 3.5 percent of California children entering first grade during the 2022–23 school year had not attended kindergarten.

The same committee also indicated that school districts receive $10,000 from the state for each enrolled kindergarten student.