{"id":130484,"date":"2026-01-12T18:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/130484\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T18:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:22:08","slug":"will-this-be-the-year-california-makes-kindergarten-mandatory-the-mendocino-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/130484\/","title":{"rendered":"Will this be the year California makes kindergarten mandatory? \u2022 The Mendocino Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a partnership between the Mendocino Voice and nonprofit newsroom CalMatters to bring relevant nonpartisan news to Mendocino County readers. Learn more about CalMatters here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SACRAMENTO, CA., 1\/12\/26 \u2014 The past few years, California has been all about the ABCs, 1-2-3s and the wheels on the bus, investing more than\u00a0$5 billion\u00a0in early childhood education.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But kindergarten, a staple of elementary schools for more than a century,\u00a0remains\u00a0optional. Despite\u00a0nearly a\u00a0half dozen legislative attempts to require it, California is one of 32 states that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mandate that all 5-year-olds attend school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That might change next year. Legislators plan to introduce a new bill to require kindergarten and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0confident that it will meet a better fate than its predecessors, which either died in committee or were vetoed,\u00a0largely due to\u00a0the cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKids need to be around other\u00a0kids,\u00a0they need to be learning. It matters,\u201d said Patricia Lozano, executive director of Early Edge California,\u00a0which\u00a0advocates for early childhood education. \u201cI don\u2019t see why California can\u2019t make this happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The data, advocates say,\u00a0is clear.<\/a>\u00a0Children who attend kindergarten have higher test scores in math and reading in third grade and beyond and higher high school graduation rates.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0also less likely to be suspended or drop out later in their school careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why some parents opt out\u00a0<\/p>\n

While California requires all school districts to offer kindergarten, it\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0require families to enroll their children. Most do, but about 5% a year opt out. The reasons vary: some families believe their children\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0ready for the rigors of school, and others are happy with their children\u2019s current arrangement, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0a preschool, day\u00a0care\u00a0or staying home with family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latino families are the\u00a0least likely<\/a>\u00a0to send their children to kindergarten, data shows. Lozano said\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0a variety of reasons for this: they either\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know about it due to a language barrier;\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0afraid to register their children in school due to immigration concerns; parents are working so hard\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0missed notices from the school district; or some combination of all three. Regardless, schools need to improve their outreach to that community, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cecelia Kiss, 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 available to drive her. Even though the child loved school and the family placed a high value on education, it was logistically impossible to get the child to school. It took several weeks for the school and family to make transportation arrangements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Latinos, education is so important. We want to give our kids the best we can,\u201d said Kiss, who is also the parent of a kindergartner. \u201cBut sometimes we\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0do everything. We rely on kind teachers to care for our children, to help them learn, to help them be prepared for first grade.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Sen. Susan Rubio<\/a>\u00a0said that the fact that kindergarten\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0mandatory 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 kindergarten is optional, and therefore not a priority, \u201cthey listen to that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0proposed two\u00a0previous\u00a0bills to make kindergarten mandatory. The state should be unequivocal in its message to families that early childhood education is essential for students\u2019 success in school and life, she said. The state\u2019s already\u00a0rolled out transitional kindergarten<\/a>\u00a0to all 4-year-olds, expanded state-funded preschool and added more slots to its subsidized\u00a0child care\u00a0program. Bolstering kindergarten should be next, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State Superintendent of Public Instruction\u00a0Tony Thurmond<\/a>\u00a0agrees. He said this month that making kindergarten mandatory\u00a0is a legislative priority<\/a>\u00a0for 2026, and he pledged to support any bill that addresses it. Several legislators said\u00a0they\u2019d\u00a0consider sponsoring one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Not an urgent need\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both of Rubio\u2019s\u00a0previous\u00a0kindergarten bills died \u2013\u00a0one<\/a>\u00a0in the Senate Appropriations Committee and\u00a0another<\/a>\u00a0when Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed it. In his veto note, he said he supports early education\u00a0generally\u00a0but the state\u00a0hadn\u2019t\u00a0budgeted the cost, estimated to be $268 million annually.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the author\u2019s intent is laudable \u2026 it is important to remain disciplined when it comes to spending, particularly spending that is ongoing,\u201d Newsom wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plenty of groups supported the bills, including the California Teachers Association \u2014 the state\u2019s largest teachers union \u2014 and a slew of school districts. But it had a few opponents, namely the Homeschool Association of California. The group\u2019s opposition was not based on the merits of kindergarten itself, but on the state\u2019s ability to strip rights from parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost kids are already going to kindergarten. But some parents have good reasons for keeping their kids at home,\u201d said Jamie Heston, a member of the\u00a0group\u2019s\u00a0board. \u201cParents want the choice to decide what\u2019s best for their individual child.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0taken a position on the\u00a0issue, but\u00a0generally opposes\u00a0new initiatives that cost money \u2014 including mandatory kindergarten. That stance\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0likely to change if a kindergarten bill resurfaces, the group\u2019s vice president Susan Shelley said this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a budgetary point of view, there\u2019s a lot of pressure this year to keep spending under control,\u201d Shelley said. \u201cThis would not be a one-time cost. It\u00a0would\u00a0be ongoing. And\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0not an urgent need to expand kindergarten, compared to other more pressing needs facing the state right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bruce Fuller, an education professor at UC Berkeley who studies early childhood education, said the Legislature should focus on more pressing needs facing the under-6 crowd. Those include how the rollout of transitional kindergarten has led to the closure of many preschools, leaving many 3-year-olds without a place to go. Also, Head Start is struggling with funding and other obstacles imposed by the Trump administration, including attempts to bar families who are not citizens. And even though California has expanded access to state-funded\u00a0preschool, not enough families know\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0eligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that many families opt out of kindergarten, so it\u2019s not a huge need,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cThere are more immediate concerns.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learning gaps among students\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Rubio is confident that a kindergarten bill has a good chance of passing this year, largely because the Legislature has seen\u00a0a significant turnover<\/a>\u00a0since it last voted on\u00a0a\u00a0 kindergarten\u00a0bill in 2024. Twenty-seven new senators and Assembly members were elected last fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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, fell\u00a0behind\u00a0and struggled throughout his time in school, eventually dropping out. Rubio believes he would have fared better if he had a high-quality early childhood education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s\u00a0also an elementary school teacher\u00a0who\u2019s\u00a0seen the gap between students who\u2019ve been to preschool,\u00a0TK\u00a0and kindergarten, versus those who had never enrolled in school at all until first grade. Children\u00a0who\u2019ve\u00a0been to kindergarten know how to hold a pencil,\u00a0write their names, count to 20, take\u00a0turns\u00a0and\u00a0maybe even\u00a0read or do basic math, she said. Those who\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0lag\u00a0far behind their peers and some never catch up, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have very vivid memories of my students just breaking down crying at the end of the year because they\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0do a test. They\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0know the answers, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0so heartbreaking to see,\u201d said Rubio,\u00a0who\u2019s\u00a0on leave from her job teaching at Monrovia Unified in Los Angeles County. \u201cIt\u2019s hard on them, and it\u2019s hard on the teachers because those children need a lot of extra help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lozano said she thinks the bill will pass eventually. The initiative would cost money, but the state would save money\u00a0in the long run\u00a0if more students succeeded in school and graduated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took us 20 years to get TK. It takes time to change minds, change policies,\u201d Lozano said. \u201cThere are so many benefits to kindergarten, especially for the kids who need it the most. We believe the benefits outweigh the costs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in CalMatters\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article is part of a partnership between the Mendocino Voice and nonprofit newsroom CalMatters to bring relevant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,2748,6752,50261],"class_list":["post-130484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-state-legislature","tag-calmatters","tag-kindergarten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}