Lawmakers in CA will try again to make kindergarten mandatory

from Carolyn JonesCalMatters

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In the past few years, California has been all about the alphabet, 1-2-3 and wheels on the bus, investing more than $5 billion in early childhood education.

But kindergarten, a staple of elementary schools for more than a century, remains optional. Despite nearly half a dozen legislative attempts to require it, California is one of 32 states that does not require all 5-year-olds to attend school.

That could change next year. Lawmakers plan to introduce a new bill to require kindergarten and are confident it will fare better than its predecessors, which either died in committee or were vetoed, largely because of the cost.

“Kids need to be around other kids, they need to learn. It matters,” said Patricia Lozano, executive director of Early Edge California, an early childhood education advocate. “I don’t see why California can’t make that happen.”

The data, advocates say, it is clear. Children who attend kindergarten have higher math and reading test scores in third grade and higher high school graduation rates thereafter. They are also less likely to be suspended or drop out later in their school career.

Why some parents give up

While California requires all school districts to offer kindergarten, it does not require families to enroll their children. Most do, but about 5% a year give up. The reasons vary: some families feel their children are not ready for the rigors of school, and others are happy with their children’s current arrangements, whether it’s preschool, day care, or staying at home with family.

Latin American families are least likely to send their children to kindergarten, the data show. Lozano said there are various reasons for this: they either don’t know about it because of a language barrier; they are afraid to enroll their children in school because of immigration issues; parents work so much that they have missed notifications from the school district; or some combination of the three. Regardless, the schools need to improve their outreach in that community, she said.

Cecilia Keys, a bilingual kindergarten teacher in the Sacramento City Unified School District, said she recently had a student whose mother was deported and the child was unable to attend school because there was no one to drive her. Although the child loved school and the family placed great importance on education, it was logistically impossible for the child to go to school. It took several weeks for the school and the family to arrange the transport.

“For Latinos, education is so important. We want to give our kids the best we can,” said Kiss, who is also a kindergarten parent. “But sometimes we can’t do everything. We rely on kind teachers to take care of our children, to help them learn, to help them prepare for first grade.”

State Senator Susan Rubio said the fact that kindergarten is optional discourages already disadvantaged families from enrolling their children. In her experience, Latino families have tremendous respect for the public school system, and if the system tells them that kindergarten is optional and therefore not a priority, “they listen to that.”

That’s why she proposed two previous bills to make kindergarten mandatory. The state needs to be clear in its message to families that early childhood education is essential to students’ success in school and life, she said. The state already is expanded transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, expanded state-funded preschool and added more places to its subsidized child care program. Next should be strengthening the kindergarten, she said.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond agrees. He said this month that kindergarten becomes compulsory is a legislative priority for 2026, and he has pledged to support any bill that affects him. Several lawmakers said they would consider sponsoring one.

“Not an urgent need”

Both of Rubio’s Previous Kindergarten Bills Died – one in the Senate Appropriations Committee and another when Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it. In his veto memo, he said he supports early education in general, but the state hasn’t budgeted for the cost, which is estimated at $268 million a year.

“While the author’s intent is laudable … it is important to remain disciplined when it comes to spending, especially spending that continues,” Newsom wrote.

Many groups supported the bills, including the California Teachers Association — the state’s largest teachers union — and numerous school districts. But there were a few naysayers, namely the California Home School Association. The group’s opposition was not based on the merits of kindergarten itself, but on the state’s ability to take away parents’ rights.

“Most children are already in kindergarten. But some parents have good reasons for keeping their children at home,” said Jamie Heston, a board member of the group. “Parents want the choice to decide what is best for their individual child.”

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has not taken a position on the issue, but generally opposes new initiatives that cost money — including mandatory kindergarten. That position is unlikely to change if the kindergarten bill comes up again, the group’s vice president, Susan Shelley, said this week.

“From a budget standpoint, there’s a lot of pressure this year to keep spending under control,” Shelley said. “This will not be a one-time expense. It will be ongoing. And there is no urgent need for kindergarten expansion compared to other more pressing needs the state is facing right now.”

Bruce Fuller, an education professor at UC Berkeley who studies early childhood education, said the Legislature needs to focus on the more pressing needs facing the under-6 crowd. These include how the introduction of transitional kindergarten has led to the closure of many preschools, leaving many 3-year-olds with nowhere to go. Head Start has also struggled with funding and other hurdles imposed by the Trump administration, including attempts to ban non-citizen families. And even though California has expanded access to state-funded preschool, not enough families know they’re eligible.

“It’s not like a lot of families are opting out of daycare, so it’s not a huge need,” Fuller said. “There are more immediate concerns.”

Learning gaps among students

Still, Rubio is confident the kindergarten bill has a good chance of passing this year, in large part because the Legislature has seen significant turnover since the last vote on a kindergarten bill in 2024. Twenty-seven new senators and assembly members were elected last fall.

For Rubio, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, the issue is personal. Although she did well in school, her twin brother did not. At an early age, he was wrongly placed in special education, falling behind and struggling throughout school, eventually dropping out. Rubio believes he would have done better if he had had a high-quality early childhood education.

She is also an elementary school teacher who has seen the difference between students who have been in preschool, TK, and kindergarten versus those who have never enrolled in school until first grade. Children who have been in kindergarten know how to hold a pencil, write their names, count to 20, take turns and maybe even read or do basic math, she said. Those who didn’t fell far behind their peers, and some never caught up, she said.

“I have very vivid memories of my students just breaking down crying at the end of the year because they couldn’t take a test. They didn’t know the answers and it’s so heartbreaking to see,” said Rubio, who is on leave from her job as a teacher at Monrovia Unified in Los Angeles County. “It’s hard for them and for the teachers because these kids need a lot of extra help.”

Lozano said he thinks the bill will eventually pass. The initiative will cost money, but the state will save money in the long run if more students succeed in school and graduate.

“It took us 20 years to get TK. It takes time to change minds, to change policies,” Lozano said. “There are so many benefits of kindergarten, especially for the children who need it most. We believe the benefits outweigh the costs.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.