Education Leaders Fire Back Following Rejection of Mandatory Kindergarten Bill

Education experts and leaders continued to denounce the Senate’s rejection of a bill this week that would have made Kindergarten in California mandatory. Opponents of the bill said that the cost of the bill would have caused it to be vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 2226, authored by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), would have required a child to complete one year of kindergarten before that child could be admitted to the first grade at a public elementary school. The exception would be 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, AB 2226 would have come into effect in the 2026-2027 school year.

“We know the achievement gap is present before children attend first grade,” said Muratsuchi in February. “California is making substantial investments in pre-kindergarten programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK) and the California State Preschool Program (CSPP), providing opportunities for children to have two years of high-quality early education before entering first grade. To fully realize this goal, we must ensure that all children attend kindergarten to build the foundational skills and knowledge necessary to support their ongoing academic and social-emotional success.”

Muratsuchi authored the bill because even though 95% of children in California already attend Kindergarten before entering first grade, he said that Kindergarten is essential. Specifically, he noted that Kindergarten built the foundation for socialization and literacy, and that some minority groups, like Latinos, are less likely to have children in that grade.

In addition to AB 2226, Senate Bill 1056, authored by Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), was a similar bill in the Senate. SB 1056 made it past several committees and was expected to reach the Governor’s desk later in the year. However, in an act of foreshadowing, many lawmakers deemed mandatory kindergarten too expensive, and it was held in committee in May, leaving Muratsuchi’s bill the sole remaining mandatory Kindergarten bill.

The bills also fell 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.

Two mandatory Kindergarten bills killed in 2024

Now, two years later and the state sporting a budget deficit $55 billion to $80 billion, finances frequently came up again. AB 2226 actually made it past a heavily contested Assembly vote in May and had passed several Senate committees heading into August. But the weight of the cost of mandatory kindergarten was too much, and last Thursday, AB 2226 was killed before the Assembly Appropriations Committee vote. Despite failing once again, Muratsuchi and supporters vowed to bring the bill back up to Sacramento soon.

“I was disappointed but not surprised,” said Muratsuchi last week. “I think more than anything its a reflection of our current budget deficit, but the data is clear and we need to make sure we close the kindergarten gap. We’re definitely not giving up.”

Senator Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) added, “The lens we were looking through was the cost. Anything that we pass and the governor signs means it’s probably something that has to come out of the budget next year.”

Groups such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, the California Teachers Association, and education leaders in the state continued to say this week that the state was only harming more children by not passing this bill.

“A lot of kids are not on the same level in first grade and are way behind in so many areas,” said Jean Wayne, a longtime early childhood researcher, to the Globe on Tuesday. “But the state is worried about money so much that they are leaving those kids behind. It’s only going to hurt mostly black and Latino students in California too. Other students have that ‘leg up’ of another year of school going in.”

However, education policy experts also told the Globe that the bill stood virtually no chance, and will continue to be impossible to pass as long as California has a major deficit.

“SB 1056 was the red flag early on,” explained Ronald Chavez, an LA-based education policy financial consultant, to the Globe on Tuesday. “Actually, the red flag was SB 70 two years ago. Newsom was not tacking on another $250 million or so to the annual budget without enough open funds to do so. He vetoed SB 70, and worries of a veto killed SB 1056. AB 2226 needed some incredible changes to make it even worth salvaging. A low-cost, need based pilot funding program, for example, could have been a compromise solution. Especially if one of the goals was finding a way to make mandatory Kindergarten under a certain amount each year. But they refused to back down, so their bill was killed.

“They needed money for this bill to pass. This was not thought through, as the state is strapped for funds. They need to try again in a few years when the fiscal situation may be better. Not threaten another next year. These are education bills, but they sure aren’t smart.”

No future mandatory Kindergarten bills have been announced.