Elementary education: kindergarten.

(1) Under existing law, a person between the ages of 6 and 18 years who is not exempted by law is subject to compulsory full-time education. Existing law excludes a child under 6 years of age from the public schools, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires a school district maintaining a kindergarten to admit a child who will have his or her 5th birthday on or before certain specified dates during that school year. Existing law also requires a child who will have his or her 6th birthday on or before specified dates to be admitted to the first grade of an elementary school. This bill, beginning with the 2017–18 school year, would require a child to have completed one year of kindergarten before he or she may be admitted to the first grade, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires each person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction at the elementary or high school level to, between the first and 15th day of October of each year, file with the Superintendent of Public Instruction an affidavit or statement, under penalty of perjury, by the owner or other administrator setting forth specified information. This bill would specify that private school instruction at the elementary level includes kindergarten. The bill also would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.