Bill to Make Kindergarten Mandatory Fails To Move Past Senate Appropriations Committee

A bill that would have required that all children complete one year of kindergarten education prior to entering the first grade beginning in the 2026-2027 school year failed to move past the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, with the bill being held under submission.

Senate Bill 1056, authored by Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), would have required that a child complete one year of kindergarten before being admitted to the first grade at a public elementary school, except for a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California, but has not yet completed one school year, and is judged to be ready for first-grade work. Should the bill have passed, the bill would have become active beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.

Rubio wrote 1056, along with Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) introducing the similar AB 2226, because of an achievement gap between students in first grade between those that did go to kindergarten and those who didn’t. Both also noted that studies have found that students in mandatory Kindergarten states tend to go to college more and get higher paying jobs, as well as increased benefits for many black, Hispanic, immigrant, and lower-income students.

The bills also fall at the heels of a failed bill in 2022 that would have done the same thing. SB 70, also authored by Rubio, had passed the Senate and Assembly. However, opposition ran deep, as opponents of SB 70, which included most GOP state legislators, education policy experts, and even the California Department of Finance stood against the bill. While it was agreed that high education standards are important, questions of whether mandatory classes would actually help students, as well as the high costs of such a program, caused many to balk at SB 70. Experts also said that SB 70 would specifically have the state hire another 20,000 students into the public school system mid-decade, putting a strain on schools, teacher hirings, and would ultimately add $268 million to the budget annually. Newsom, in the midst of several budget crises, decided to veto the bill due to the cost.

The high costs of the bill, now contrasted with the even higher budget deficit amount of $73 billion, continued to hurt both bills chances this year, despite both Rubio and Muratsuchi, who co-authored each others bills, focusing on the higher education aspect. For AB 2226, this was successful, as the bill passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee 11-4 on Thursday.

AB 2226 moves on while SB 1056 is grounded

“I was pleased that my AB 2226 successfully passed out of Assembly Appropriations yesterday.  I want to thank Senator Rubio for her leadership and ongoing commitment to the issue of mandatory kindergarten. I look forward to continuing to work with her and others to ensure that every child has an equal opportunity to attend kindergarten and build the foundational skills necessary to support their ongoing academic and social-emotional success,” expressed Muratsuchi in a statement on Thursday.

However, for SB 1056, the money issue killed the bill on Suspense Day on Thursday.

“While I am disappointed that our SB 1056 was held in the Senate yesterday, I do look forward continuing to work on Assembly Bill 2226 by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, Chair on Education. Assembly Bill 2226, which I am Co-Authoring, is a similar bill that started in the Assembly and was approved to move on,” said Senator Rubio on Friday. “As a public school teacher and vice principal for almost 20 years, I have witnessed firsthand the detrimental impact on young students who miss out on fundamental early education and I will continue to be committed to this important issue.”

However, the failure of SB 1056 is expected to be a foreshadowing of what awaits AB 2226 this year. SB 1056 proved to be a challenge to pass in the Senate, as many worried over the state budget. And even if it does pass, educational policy experts have said that Newsom would likely veto the legislation again because of the high cost.

“They are picking the absolute worst time to push the issue of mandatory kindergarten,” explained Ronald Chavez, an LA-based education policy financial consultant, to the Globe on Friday. “Never mind the fact that a lot of school districts are pushing this solely for the money they would be getting. But this would be extremely expensive for the state. And if it was too much for the state in 2022, there is no way it is any better with a higher deficit now.

“One of the two bills was going to go out early, and it happened to be SB 1056. Now eyes are on AB 2226. It is going to face a hell of a challenge in the Senate, and if by some miracle it passes there, it will come to Newsom. He’s been more veto-happy in recent years thanks to budget woes, and he’s already vetoed this legislation before. They need to have a plan to free up the money in the budget for this for the bill to even remotely work, and you can guess where they are on that.

“Not a big surprise that SB 1056 failed. And it won’t be when AB 2226 meets that fate later this year. They need to wait when the state is doing fiscally better for this one to have a chance. They’re just being really stubborn and impatient.”

AB 2226 is expected to be heard in Senate committees soon.