Requiring the community approach to four-year-old kindergarten. (FE)
Impact
The bill's adoption will ensure that all four-year-old kindergarten programs are standardized across school districts, promoting consistency in early education services. This shift in policy emphasizes collaboration between school boards and community-based providers, potentially enhancing the availability of early education programs and fostering community involvement. It will require all involved parties to enhance their readiness to work collaboratively under the new provisions, which may lead to improvements in educational outcomes for children.
Summary
Assembly Bill 1035 mandates that if a school board provides a four-year-old kindergarten program, it must use a community approach to early education as defined by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). This bill requires school boards to contract with various community-based providers like family child care centers and Head Start agencies to offer these programs. The contracts have stipulations, including per pupil funding that must not be less than 95% of the local per pupil funding and define roles and responsibilities regarding the operation of the kindergarten program.
Contention
While the aim of this legislation is to improve early childhood education, some concerns exist regarding the quality of education and teacher qualifications at community-based providers. The bill exempts teachers at these providers from holding formal teaching licenses, which raises questions about educational standards and the adequacy of preparedness among instructors. Some stakeholders argue that this could undermine the quality of education delivered, leading to disparities in learning outcomes between children in community-based programs and those in traditional school settings.
Allows charter schools to engage in nontraditional approaches to learning, permits local communities to adopt all-charter school public school model for public education.