Board preparing for changes to kindergartens

A state law will soon change what age children enter kindergarten.

And the Del Norte County Unified School District will discuss Thursday how to implement these changes locally.

The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 created transitional kindergarten for children who aren’t quite 5 years old by the first day of school.

Currently, students who will turn 5 by Dec. 2 are admitted to kindergarten. The law pushes back that date to Sept. 1, so all children in kindergarten would be 5 years old on the first day of school starting in 2014.

Research has shown that not all 4-year-olds are developmentally ready for kindergarten and it’s better to wait, said Steve Godla, the assistant superintendent of instruction and educational services.

Under the act, A transitional kindergarten program would be established for 4-year-olds born from September and December to give kids an additional year to prepare for school. They would be in a separate classroom with a curriculum separate from kindergarten, Godla said.

However, Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest budget proposal does not include funding for transitional kindergarten, Godla said.

The School Board needs to discuss how to change the birthday cutoff for kindergarteners.

This change can happen gradually. For example, starting next school year, the cutoff date would be Nov. 1. The next year, it would  Oct. and then in 2014, Sept. 1.

Or, the district can make the change all at once, Godla said, but that could cause some problems with staffing and enrollment.

“For one thing, if we went back to September in one year, it would reduce kindergarten enrollment by 25 percent,” he said.

Enrollment dictates how many kindergarten teachers are needed, so there would be a fluctuation in how many are staffed for the year, Godla said.

There’s also the issue that the district doesn’t receive funding for children younger than 5, he said.

“We’re going to discuss the pros and cons of that,” Godla said about changing the cutoff date in one year or mutiple years.

For more information, go to delnorte.k12.ca.us, and click on “Kindergarten info” under “Parent Information.”

The board’s Thursday meeting opens at 4:30 p.m. at the Curriculum and Instruction Center in the Education Center Building, 301 W. Washington Blvd.

Reach Kelley Atherton at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it