Senate File 354 - Introduced SENATE FILE 354 BY HART , QUIRMBACH , HORN , McCOY , BOULTON , BISIGNANO , DVORSKY , LYKAM , HOGG , and MATHIS A BILL FOR An Act relating to the admission and exclusion of pupils in 1 kindergarten and first grade by school districts, lowering 2 the compulsory age of attendance to age five, and including 3 effective date provisions. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 2361XS (5) 87 kh/rj

S.F. 354 Section 1. Section 256C.3, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 1 2017, is amended to read as follows: 2 a. A child who is a resident of Iowa and is four years 3 of age on or before September 15 of a school year shall be 4 eligible to enroll in the preschool program under this chapter . 5 If such a child is enrolled under this chapter , the child shall 6 be considered to be of compulsory attendance age as provided in 7 section 299.1A, subsection 3 2 . 8 Sec. 2. Section 282.3, subsections 1 and 2, Code 2017, are 9 amended to read as follows: 10 1. The board of directors of a school district may exclude 11 from school children under the age of six five years when in 12 its judgment such children are not sufficiently mature to be 13 benefited by regular instruction, or any child who is found 14 to be physically or mentally unable to attend school under 15 section 299.5 , or whose presence in school has been found to 16 be injurious to the health of other pupils, or is efficiently 17 taught for the scholastic year at a state institution. 18 However, the board shall provide special education programs and 19 services under chapters 256B , 257 , and 273 for all children 20 requiring special education. 21 2. The conditions of admission to public schools for work in 22 the year immediately preceding the first grade relating to a 23 child’s age and in the first grade ability shall be as follows: 24 a. A child under the age of six five years on the fifteenth 25 of September of the current school year shall not be admitted 26 to a public school unless the board of directors of the school 27 has adopted and put into effect courses of study for the school 28 year immediately preceding the first grade, approved by the 29 department of education, and has employed a practitioner or 30 practitioners for this work with standards of training approved 31 by the board of educational examiners child is being admitted 32 to a preschool program established and implemented by the 33 school district pursuant to chapter 256C . 34 b. No child shall be admitted to school work for the year 35 -1- LSB 2361XS (5) 87 kh/rj 1/ 4

S.F. 354 immediately preceding the first grade unless the child is five 1 years of age on or before the fifteenth of September of the 2 current school year. 3 c. b. No A child shall not be admitted to the first grade 4 kindergarten unless the child is six five years of age on 5 or before the fifteenth of September of the current school 6 year ; except that as provided in section 299.1A. However, a 7 child under six five years of age who has been admitted to 8 public school work for the year immediately preceding the 9 first grade under conditions approved by the department of 10 education kindergarten pursuant to paragraph “a” , or who has 11 demonstrated the possession of sufficient ability to profit by 12 first-grade kindergarten work on the basis of tests or other 13 means of evaluation recommended or approved by the department 14 of education, may be admitted to first grade kindergarten at 15 any time before December 31. 16 Sec. 3. Section 299.1A, Code 2017, is amended to read as 17 follows: 18 299.1A Compulsory attendance age. 19 1. Except as provided in subsections subsection 2 and 3 , a 20 child who has reached the age of six five and is under sixteen 21 years of age by September 15 is of compulsory attendance age. 22 However, if a child enrolled in a school district or accredited 23 nonpublic school reaches the age of sixteen on or after 24 September 15, the child remains of compulsory age until the end 25 of the regular school calendar. 26 2. A child who has reached the age of five by September 15 27 and who is enrolled in a school district shall be considered 28 to be of compulsory attendance age unless the parent or 29 guardian of the child notifies the school district in writing 30 of the parent’s or guardian’s intent to remove the child from 31 enrollment in the school district. 32 3. 2. A child who has reached the age of four by September 33 15 and who is enrolled in the statewide preschool program under 34 chapter 256C shall be considered to be of compulsory attendance 35 -2- LSB 2361XS (5) 87 kh/rj 2/ 4

S.F. 354 age unless the parent or guardian of the child submits written 1 notice to the school district implementing the program of 2 the parent’s or guardian’s intent to remove the child from 3 enrollment in the preschool program. 4 Sec. 4. STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED. In accordance 5 with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring 6 compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall 7 be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid 8 received by the school district under section 257.16. This 9 specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed 10 to meet all of the state funding-related requirements of 11 section 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding 12 shall be necessary for the full implementation of this Act 13 by and enforcement of this Act against all affected school 14 districts. 15 Sec. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect July 1, 2018. 16 EXPLANATION 17 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 18 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 19 This bill lowers the compulsory school attendance age from 20 six to five for a child reaching the age of five by September 15 21 of a school year. 22 Currently, Code section 282.3 authorizes a school board to 23 exclude from school children who are under the age of six years 24 when in its judgment such children are not mature enough to 25 benefit from regular instruction or for other reasons specified 26 in statute, and establishes conditions of admission to public 27 schools for school work in kindergarten and the first grade. 28 Current law also provides that a child under the age of six 29 on September 15 shall not be admitted to a public school unless 30 the school has adopted and put into effect courses of study 31 taught by a licensed teacher for the school year immediately 32 preceding the first grade, except that a child under age six 33 who was admitted to kindergarten under conditions approved 34 by the department of education, or who has demonstrated the 35 -3- LSB 2361XS (5) 87 kh/rj 3/ 4

S.F. 354 possession of sufficient ability to profit by first-grade work 1 on the basis of tests or other means of evaluation recommended 2 or approved by the department, may be admitted to first grade 3 at any time before December 31. Current law prohibits the 4 admission of a child for the year immediately preceding the 5 first grade unless the child is five years of age on or before 6 September 15. 7 The bill makes changes to Code section 282.3, relating to the 8 admission and exclusion of pupils, to apply the provision to 9 children of kindergarten age. 10 The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code 11 section 25B.3. The bill requires that the state cost of 12 any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school 13 district from state school foundation aid received by the 14 school district under Code section 257.16. The specification 15 is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate 16 funding-related requirements of Code section 25B.2. The 17 inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the 18 requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state 19 mandates included in the bill. 20 The bill takes effect July 1, 2018. 21 -4- LSB 2361XS (5) 87 kh/rj 4/ 4