When Should a Child Start School? Let The Parents Decide.

Last year the voters turned down Proposition 82 - a tax increase to fund pre-school being offered in the public school system. This year the state government is projecting that its revenues will fall far short of prior predictions and the state's current budget needs. Some politicians in Sacramento think the best response to these two facts is to introduce legislation to lower the compulsory age for a child to enter the education system - a decision that would go against the people's decision of last June 2006 and increase the state's education budget by millions (likely by billions) at a time when we can least afford it. That bill is AB 1236 which would lower the age a child starts school from six to five.

A competing bill is AB 683 which would change the birthday for a child to be required to enter school from December 1st to September 1st - effectively raising the age a child is required to be before he/she enters the school system. AB 683 is sound public policy and should be supported. It recognizes that not all five year old children are ready to enter the school system. Not all children are the same developmentally and some may need more time before they can successfully enter the formal education system. This is especially true as kindergarten and 1st grade are becoming more challenging academically. In addition, if a child is "held back" a grade because they entered the system to quickly, the public education system (if the child is in the public school) must pay for another year of that child's education.

AB 1236 should be opposed as bad public and fiscal policy while AB 683 should be supported as good fiscally and it respects the rights and decision making of parents (with the help and advise of teachers and school administrators).

Attached are two letters - one in opposition to AB 1236 and one in support of AB 683. I urge you to send each one to your state assembly person, state senator and to the Governor.


Craig P. Alexander, Esq.
Education Alliance Member


Letter in opposition to AB 1236:
No%20on%20AB%201236.doc


Letter is support of AB 683:
Yes%20on%20AB%20683.doc