Bill Would Make Kindergarten Mandatory In California

 

The Pleasanton (CA) Weekly (6/7, Aguilar) reports the California State Assembly approved a bill that would require children to attend kindergarten before they enter first grade, although the bill doesn’t require children to attend kindergarten when they’re five. Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan (D), a sponsor, said the bill was inspired in part by “the new Common Core State Standards,” which “have academic expectations for kindergarten students.” Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D), another sponsor, said the state is designing much of its educational policy “around the assumption that California’s children will attend kindergarten.”

California Senate Approves Multilingual Education Ballot Measure

 

The Los Angeles Times (5/29, McGreevy) reports that state senators in California on Tuesday approved a ballot measure that would ask voters “to repeal a ban on bilingual education in the state, saying children in other countries are successfully learning multiple languages.” The Times reports that the measure, which would appear on the November 2016 ballot, “divided Republicans, with Senate GOP leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar supporting the measure for giving school districts local control ‘so innovation can take place.’ But eight other Republicans, including Sen. Jim Nielsen of Gerber, voted against the bill, saying it would worsen the state’s high drop-out rate, which is partly caused by a large number of students being unable to read and understand English.”