Bill Text: IA SF354 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the admission and exclusion of pupils in kindergarten and first grade by school districts, lowering the compulsory age of attendance to age five, and including effective date provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-27 - Subcommittee: Behn, Chelgren, and Hart. S.J. 413. [SF354 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-SF354-Introduced.html

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Senate File 354 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  HART, QUIRMBACH, HORN,
                                     McCOY, BOULTON,
                                     BISIGNANO, DVORSKY,
                                     LYKAM, HOGG, and
                                     MATHIS

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the admission and exclusion of pupils in
  2    kindergarten and first grade by school districts, lowering
  3    the compulsory age of attendance to age five, and including
  4    effective date provisions.
  5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    TLSB 2361XS (5) 87
    kh/rj

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 256C.3, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code
  1  2 2017, is amended to read as follows:
  1  3    a.  A child who is a resident of Iowa and is four years
  1  4 of age on or before September 15 of a school year shall be
  1  5 eligible to enroll in the preschool program under this chapter.
  1  6  If such a child is enrolled under this chapter, the child shall
  1  7 be considered to be of compulsory attendance age as provided in
  1  8 section 299.1A, subsection 3 2.
  1  9    Sec. 2.  Section 282.3, subsections 1 and 2, Code 2017, are
  1 10 amended to read as follows:
  1 11    1.  The board of directors of a school district may exclude
  1 12 from school children under the age of six five years when in
  1 13 its judgment such children are not sufficiently mature to be
  1 14 benefited by regular instruction, or any child who is found
  1 15 to be physically or mentally unable to attend school under
  1 16 section 299.5, or whose presence in school has been found to
  1 17 be injurious to the health of other pupils, or is efficiently
  1 18 taught for the scholastic year at a state institution.
  1 19 However, the board shall provide special education programs and
  1 20 services under chapters 256B, 257, and 273 for all children
  1 21 requiring special education.
  1 22    2.  The conditions of admission to public schools for work in
  1 23 the year immediately preceding the first grade relating to a
  1 24 child's age and in the first grade ability shall be as follows:
  1 25    a.  A child under the age of six five years on the fifteenth
  1 26 of September of the current school year shall not be admitted
  1 27 to a public school unless the board of directors of the school
  1 28 has adopted and put into effect courses of study for the school
  1 29 year immediately preceding the first grade, approved by the
  1 30 department of education, and has employed a practitioner or
  1 31 practitioners for this work with standards of training approved
  1 32 by the board of educational examiners child is being admitted
  1 33 to a preschool program established and implemented by the
  1 34 school district pursuant to chapter 256C.
  1 35    b.  No child shall be admitted to school work for the year
  2  1 immediately preceding the first grade unless the child is five
  2  2 years of age on or before the fifteenth of September of the
  2  3 current school year.
  2  4    c.  b.  No A child shall not be admitted to the first grade
  2  5  kindergarten unless the child is six five years of age on
  2  6 or before the fifteenth of September of the current school
  2  7 year; except that as provided in section 299.1A.  However, a
  2  8 child under six five years of age who has been admitted to
  2  9 public school work for the year immediately preceding the
  2 10 first grade under conditions approved by the department of
  2 11 education kindergarten pursuant to paragraph "a", or who has
  2 12 demonstrated the possession of sufficient ability to profit by
  2 13 first=grade kindergarten work on the basis of tests or other
  2 14 means of evaluation recommended or approved by the department
  2 15 of education, may be admitted to first grade kindergarten at
  2 16 any time before December 31.
  2 17    Sec. 3.  Section 299.1A, Code 2017, is amended to read as
  2 18 follows:
  2 19    299.1A  Compulsory attendance age.
  2 20    1.  Except as provided in  subsections subsection 2 and 3, a
  2 21 child who has reached the age of six five and is under sixteen
  2 22 years of age by September 15 is of compulsory attendance age.
  2 23 However, if a child enrolled in a school district or accredited
  2 24 nonpublic school reaches the age of sixteen on or after
  2 25 September 15, the child remains of compulsory age until the end
  2 26 of the regular school calendar.
  2 27    2.  A child who has reached the age of five by September 15
  2 28 and who is enrolled in a school district shall be considered
  2 29 to be of compulsory attendance age unless the parent or
  2 30 guardian of the child notifies the school district in writing
  2 31 of the parent's or guardian's intent to remove the child from
  2 32 enrollment in the school district.
  2 33    3.  2.  A child who has reached the age of four by September
  2 34 15 and who is enrolled in the statewide preschool program under
  2 35 chapter 256C shall be considered to be of compulsory attendance
  3  1 age unless the parent or guardian of the child submits written
  3  2 notice to the school district implementing the program of
  3  3 the parent's or guardian's intent to remove the child from
  3  4 enrollment in the preschool program.
  3  5    Sec. 4.  STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED.  In accordance
  3  6 with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring
  3  7 compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall
  3  8 be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid
  3  9 received by the school district under section 257.16.  This
  3 10 specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed
  3 11 to meet all of the state funding=related requirements of
  3 12 section 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding
  3 13 shall be necessary for the full implementation of this Act
  3 14 by and enforcement of this Act against all affected school
  3 15 districts.
  3 16    Sec. 5.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect July 1, 2018.
  3 17                           EXPLANATION
  3 18 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  3 19 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  3 20    This bill lowers the compulsory school attendance age from
  3 21 six to five for a child reaching the age of five by September 15
  3 22 of a school year.
  3 23    Currently, Code section 282.3 authorizes a school board to
  3 24 exclude from school children who are under the age of six years
  3 25 when in its judgment such children are not mature enough to
  3 26 benefit from regular instruction or for other reasons specified
  3 27 in statute, and establishes conditions of admission to public
  3 28 schools for school work in kindergarten and the first grade.
  3 29    Current law also provides that a child under the age of six
  3 30 on September 15 shall not be admitted to a public school unless
  3 31 the school has adopted and put into effect courses of study
  3 32 taught by a licensed teacher for the school year immediately
  3 33 preceding the first grade, except that a child under age six
  3 34 who was admitted to kindergarten under conditions approved
  3 35 by the department of education, or who has demonstrated the
  4  1 possession of sufficient ability to profit by first=grade work
  4  2 on the basis of tests or other means of evaluation recommended
  4  3 or approved by the department, may be admitted to first grade
  4  4 at any time before December 31. Current law prohibits the
  4  5 admission of a child for the year immediately preceding the
  4  6 first grade unless the child is five years of age on or before
  4  7 September 15.
  4  8    The bill makes changes to Code section 282.3, relating to the
  4  9 admission and exclusion of pupils, to apply the provision to
  4 10 children of kindergarten age.
  4 11    The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code
  4 12 section 25B.3.  The bill requires that the state cost of
  4 13 any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school
  4 14 district from state school foundation aid received by the
  4 15 school district under Code section 257.16.  The specification
  4 16 is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate
  4 17 funding=related requirements of Code section 25B.2.  The
  4 18 inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the
  4 19 requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state
  4 20 mandates included in the bill.
  4 21    The bill takes effect July 1, 2018.
       LSB 2361XS (5) 87
       kh/rj