A bill that would have required all California families to enroll their children in kindergarten was rejected by the state Legislature on Thursday, the latest of several failed attempts over the years to make the grade mandatory.
AB 2226 was intended to require the state's youngest students to attend kindergarten before being admitted to first grade. According to the California Department of Education, 95% of students already attend kindergarten, although it is not mandatory.
Instead, students are required to attend school when they turn 6, and it is up to families whether they start in kindergarten or go directly to first grade.
The Department of Education estimates that more than 14,000 California students skipped kindergarten in the 2022-23 school year.
Proponents of the bill, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and the California Teachers Association, pointed to research showing that early education is crucial to a student's long-term education, noting that kindergarten is mandatory in 19 states and D.C.
Data from the Los Angeles Unified School District shows that children who attend kindergarten perform better on subsequent assessments in elementary school.
The bill faced no official opposition, but was rejected without debate in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday during a quick fiscal hearing in which hundreds of bills were approved or rejected based on their price tag.
According to a legislative analysis of the bill, it could result in “significant” costs of hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The lens through which we were looking at it was cost. Anything we pass and the governor signs off on means it’s probably something that has to come out of next year’s budget,” said Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), who chairs the appropriations committee and voted for AB 2226 earlier this year, after Thursday’s hearing in Sacramento.
California faces a $46.8 billion budget deficit, and Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers have already made billions of dollars in cuts to mitigate the problem.
Despite the lack of organized opposition, efforts to mandate kindergarten education have failed in the past.
Newsom, an early education advocate, vetoed a similar bill in 2022, calling the initiative “laudable” but saying the costs were not accounted for in the state budget. Former Gov. Jerry Brown also vetoed the proposal, arguing that the comparatively small number of families who forgo kindergarten should be free to choose what is best for them.
Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates) authored AB 2226 and said kindergarten is “an essential component” of education that “builds the foundation” for skills like literacy and socialization.
She cited data from the California Bureau of Research showing that Latino children are the least likely to enroll in kindergarten, raising questions about equity.
“I was disappointed, but not surprised,” Muratsuchi said after Thursday’s hearing. “I think more than anything it’s a reflection of our current budget deficit, but the data is clear and we need to make sure we close the gap in kindergarten. We definitely won’t give up.”
