NONRESIDENT KINDERGARTEN ELIGIBILITY S.B. 492 (S-1):
ANALYSIS AS PASSED BY THE SENATE
Senate Bill 492 (S-1 as passed by the Senate) (as enrolled)
Sponsor: Senator Bruce Caswell
RATIONALE
The Revised School Code and the State School Aid Act both contain provisions regarding enrollment in kindergarten. The School Code prescribes eligibility criteria, while the School Aid Act prescribes requirements for allocating funds based on enrollment and membership. Under the Code, a parent may enroll his or her child in kindergarten if the child will be five years old by a certain date, which will be October 1 in the 2014-2015 year and September 1 in 2015-2016 and subsequent school years. If a child residing in a school district will be five years old by December 1 of a school year, however, a parent may enroll the child if the parent gives written notice to the school district by June 1 before the beginning of the school year. If a child becomes a resident of the school district after June 1, the deadline for the written notice is August 1 before the school year begins.
Under a recent amendment to the School Aid Act, any child may be enrolled in kindergarten as long as the child will be five years old by December 1. It has been suggested that the Revised School Code should reflect this amendment to the School Aid Act.
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised School Code to extend the kindergarten age requirement exception to a child who was eligible to enroll in and be counted in membership in a school district under Section 105 or 105c of the State School Aid Act. (Those sections contain provisions for enrolling a child in a school district in which the child does not reside.)
The bill would delete the June 1 and August 1 written notice deadlines, and instead require that a parent or legal guardian notify the school district in writing that he or she intended to enroll a child in kindergarten for that school year, if the child would be five years old by December 1.
ARGUMENTS
(Please note: The arguments contained in this analysis originate from sources outside the Senate Fiscal Agency. The Senate Fiscal Agency neither supports nor opposes legislation.)
Supporting Argument
The bill would eliminate an inconsistency between school district enrollment requirements under the Revised School Code, and school district funding requirements under the School Aid Act, with respect to enrollment in kindergarten.
Legislative Analyst: Glenn Steffens
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government because an amendment to the School Aid Act (in Public Act 130 of 2013) allows any child not meeting the age eligibility under this section of the School Code (Section 1147) to enroll in kindergarten if the child will turn five years old by December 1 and if the parents give notice to the enrolling school district. Therefore, the amendment to the School Aid Act effectively would provide for the enrollment of, and subsequent payment for, such students attending kindergarten, and the changes in the bill would mirror the corresponding amendments already enacted under Public Act 130.
Fiscal Analyst: Kathryn Summers
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.