From: Roy Hanson — Family Protection Ministries and Mike Smith — HSLDA
Bill: AB 1444 (as amended 4/22/14) – Mandatory Kindergarten
Author: State Assemblymember Joan Buchanan
Position: Strongly OPPOSE
Thank you for your important phone calls!
Status: AB 1444 passed the Assembly Education Committee on April 30th. The bill is now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee with a hearing date of May 7th. Please be watching for our next Alert, as we will need your help in the near future.
Below is the record of the vote taken at the Education Committee hearing:
Ayes 6 – Noes 1: Pass
Ayes
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Joan Buchanan (D)
Lorena Gonzales (D)
Adrin Nazarian (D)
Kristin Olsen (R)
Shirley N. Weber (D)
Das Williams (D)
Noes
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Rocky J. Chávez (R)
Summary of Concern:
AB 1444 would make Kindergarten mandatory before taking the first grade, forcing one more year to a child’s education.
AB 1444, as recently amended, does indirectly what the last version of this bill did directly – that is to have “everyone” starting school at 5 years of age.
There are serious problems with this new proposed legislation that are outlined in our previous AB 1444 Action Alert, which you can read on our website here.
No action is needed at this time. We will follow up with another email Action Alert when the next action is needed. A big thanks to those who contacted the Assembly expressing your opposition to the bill.