House passes bill requiring ‘first grade readiness’
The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday approved a bill that would require students to attend kindergarten or show the ability to do the work to advance to first grade.
The bill passed the chamber 87-12. It moves to the Senate.
House Bill 43, sponsored by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, would drop the mandatory age of school enrollment for a child from 6 to 5.
Warren called the legislation a “first grade readiness bill,” and it would not require parents to enroll their children in kindergarten. She said parents can homeschool or send children to private or religious schools to get them to that level.
“This bill is trying to prevent a child from having to stay back in the first grade by having a solid foundation they need when they reach the first grade,” Warren said.
Children would have to reach the age of enrollment by Sept. 1. But the legislation would allow local school districts to allow 4-year-olds who turn 5 by the end of December to attend kindergarten and 5-year-olds who turn 6 by the end of the calendar year to attend first grade.
Underaged children would also be able to join the class if they moved from a public school from another state where they were in that grade.
“It does not make it mandatory,” Warren said. “It is opening the doors for them. And before they get to the first grade, they’re going to have to be assessed to see if they have the competencies required for kindergarten.”
Gov. Kay Ivey called for a “first-grade readiness” program in her State of the State address last month.
Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, introduced an amendment that would clarify that if a child is not ready for first grade, they’ll start in kindergarten.
“That will be the best thing for that child at that point. And I think if they’ve not had their child in school for six years, then I think kindergarten would be the best place for that child to begin,” Collins said.
Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, said pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds should be mandatory if the state is going to require first-grade readiness. The average parent right now can’t put their children in these programs because of lack of spaces, she said.
“If the government is putting additional monies in our budget this time, so that we can offer more spaces for children to be in K-4 and K-5 around the state — other than that, I think you’re penalizing them,” Moore said, “because if their parents aren’t education-oriented, and they don’t make any provisions before they get to first grade, then that group is always going to be behind.”
Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, said that while he has not supported that bill in the past, he does now because in his district, many don’t want to send children to kindergarten.
“But this bill gives the parents that choice,” Garrett said.
He said that when kids aren’t ready for first grade, that affects every student and the teacher.
“That’s frustrating for those children who are not to that level. It’s frustrating for those children who are at that level. And I think overall common sense was it impacts the ability and the progress of that entire classroom,” Garrett said.