Newsom vetoes bill to require kindergarten in California

Despite a big push in the Golden State for better early education, California won’t require kindergarten attendance as a prerequisite for kids entering first grade after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Sunday night.

The governor, who has touted his commitment to early education with universal pre-kindergarten, said in a Sunday night veto message on Senate Bill 70 that the cost of requiring kindergarten starting in the 2024-25 school year — up to $268 million annually — means the issue should be dealt with during budget talks.

“With our state facing lower-than-expected revenues over the first few months of this fiscal year, it is important to remain disciplined when it comes to spending, particularly spending that is ongoing,” Newsom wrote, while calling the intent of author Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, “laudable.” He continued: “We must prioritize existing obligations and priorities, including education, health care, public safety and safety-net programs.”

Newsom also vetoed legislation by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, AB 1973, that would have required all elementary schools to offer full-day kindergarten by 2030, again citing costs.

Kindergarten is required in 19 states and Washington, D.C., and 17 states and D.C. require full-day kindergarten, according to the Education Commission of the States.

Legislative analysts estimated 30,000 more children would enroll in public kindergarten if the Rubio bill were enacted. It would not have required kindergarten at a particular age, only as a prerequisite to entering first grade.

Sen. Rubio said she’ll try to get her bill signed next year.

“Any teacher who has been in the classroom as long as I have can describe to you in detail the long-term, devastating effects to a child who misses kindergarten,” Rubio said Monday. “I plan to reintroduce my mandatory kindergarten bill and fight for the funding next year. Our children are too important. We can either pay the education costs now or the far greater societal costs later.”

McCarty had said to lawmakers that “full-day kindergarten gives students the time they need to engage in meaningful learning and play, resulting in greater school readiness, self-confidence, and academic achievement compared to part-day programs. However, some school districts only offer part-day programs, leaving students without access to the benefits of full-day kindergarten.”

The mandatory kindergarten bill was sponsored by Los Angeles Unified School District, the state’s largest and the second largest in the U.S. Kindergarten enrollment at the district for the 2020-21 academic year fell 14%, or about 6,000 students, according to a legislative analysis.

The analysis cited a California Department of Education report in April 2021 that K-12 public enrollment declined by 160,500 students statewide, including 61,000 in kindergarten. It said it was unclear whether those students enrolled in private kindergarten or attended any educational program.

The mandatory kindergarten bill was supported by teacher unions, school districts and early education groups. Its only formal opposition came from the California Homeschool Network, which called it “an unnecessary change.”

“Developmental differences vary greatly between children of this age range,” the homeschool network told lawmakers. “Some five-year-olds are ready, socially and cognitively, for first-grade work, and some six-year-olds can barely make it in kindergarten, so a mandatory system doesn’t really make sense for all of our children.”

Legislative analysts said 95% of eligible students attend public and private kindergarten, and 80% of eligible students attend kindergarten at a public school.

The bill to require schools to offer full-day kindergarten was supported by school employee and early education groups but opposed by public school boards and administrators, who argued it would present “logistical challenges” for schools that don’t have the funding, capacity or staff.

Newsom in last year’s budget trumpeted free pre-kindergarten, also known as transitional kindergarten, for all four-year-olds by the 2025-26 school year as part of a $123.9 billion “Pre-K and K-12 education package.”