State proposes to raise kindergarten entry age
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state may raise the entrance age for kindergarten, requiring children to reach their fifth birthday before school starts and providing a potential cost savings to the education system.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Although supporters of the measure say that 4-year-olds who enter kindergarten have a disproportionate number of learning disabilities and more discipline problems, a bill moving through the Legislature appears likely to attract an outcry from parents who say they can't afford to pay for preschool for an additional year and don't want to hold back their children academically.
"Reading along" is a popular activity among the kindergartners in Waikele Elementary School teacher Tiffany Shinagawa’s classroom. Students Dillon Sumida, front, Parris Jones, and Jordan Silva-Nueku happily turn the pages of a book as they listen to audio tapes.
Opponents of the measure say it will only delay entry into a school setting for the state's most disadvantaged students.
"Unless we can guarantee those children high-quality preschool, they're only going to get further behind," said Diane Paiva, director of Kama'aina Kids in Mililani. "And somebody still has to be the younger student."
But statistics from the Department of Education show that children with birthdays that fall late in the year have a much greater chance of being labeled as learning disabled.
In 1998, the average number of DOE learning disabled students born January through June was 689 each month, while the average number of learning disabled students was 942 per month for children with a July through December birthday. Boys are far more likely than girls to be labeled with learning disabilities.
Hawai'i also has one of the earliest kindergarten entrance ages in the country. Children here must be 5 years old by Dec. 31 of the school year to start kindergarten, while many other states set September as the cut-off date. Most local private schools require children to reach their fifth birthday sometime during the summer before school starts.
"It's hard to win the academic race when you're starting six months behind the private schools and four months behind the other schools in the country," said Dean Liskum, a former DOE counselor and a family therapist who analyzed the statistics for legislators.
Liskum predicts that standardized test scores would rise and that a decrease in the number of learning disabilities would save the state money. The younger group of children would no longer be penalized with the label of a disability just because they may need a few more months of emotional and social development, he said. "We'll have kids that are much more ready to learn, and we'll be able to engage them."
The bill would move up the age requirement gradually. In the 2003-04 school year, children whose birthday falls before Sept. 30 would be able to start kindergarten. In the 2004-05 school year they would need to turn 5 by June 30. A temporary pre-kindergarten run by the DOE could be set up for two years to ease parents into the transition.
While DOE officials doubt that the state would see any long-term savings as a result of the change, legislators expect to see a savings that could apply to things such as the reduction of class sizes, repair and maintenance and academic programs.
Liskum said the state would save about $12 million a year because fewer teachers would be needed and there would be a drop in the number of students with learning disabilities.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Greg Knudsen, DOE spokesman, said the department wouldn't save any money because a two-year enrollment dip isn't enough to eliminate the need for statewide services.
Waikele Elementary kindergarten teacher Tiffany Shinagawa helps Noelani Gabriel and other children with a project. A proposal to raise the entry age for kindergarten has some parents worried about their children’s academic growth.
Betsy Moneymaker, a DOE early education specialist, said the state is trying to provide the most reasonable learning environment for children.
With some year-round campuses starting school in July, some children now enter kindergarten at four years and seven months. While teachers often say the younger children have a harder time adjusting to school, Moneymaker said that moving up the age requirement doesn't solve everything.
"When they come to our doors in a public school and it's a year later we're going to have the same problem with the range of skills," Moneymaker said. "Some kids will just be 5, some kids will be 5.11 years old. Depending on their parents, and this is the rub, they will put them in private kindergarten if they can afford it. We want it to be good for kids. It's not a money-saving device."
Suzanne Dawkins, the mother of a 2-year-old, is dismayed at the proposal. Her daughter has an August birthday, meaning that she would enter kindergarten just after her sixth birthday if the bill passes.
"I wouldn't want to keep her back," Dawkins said. "I don't like it. Kindergarten is a stepping stone for the first grade. I think it's better for them to get into the school environment."
Dawkins, who lived in Japan when her 6-year old was starting school, already has had this experience. Her older daughter, who has a November birthday, just missed the October cutoff for the start of kindergarten at that school.
"She was ready," Dawkins said. "I tried to get her in, and they said no."
Dawkins said that she doesn't want her youngest child to have the same experience of watching all of her friends start kindergarten without her.
The proposal's fate is uncertain this early in the legislative session.
"In general we support it, but we don't want it to start this year because parents are already planning for kindergarten in the fall," Knudsen said. "At this point, the entrance age is the earliest in the nation."
The Senate Education Committee has approved the measure and will refer it to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The House has similar bills, but Rep. Ken Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), House Education Committee chair, said he will instead wait for the Senate to send its version to his committee for consideration.
"I think if we do this change there will be an improvement based on the children being ready for school," said Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-16th (Moanalua, Salt Lake).
If parents really want their children to enter school before their fifth birthday, senators have added a provision that would allow for readiness testing of the younger children, he said.
"If they're ready then they can go." Sakamoto said. "It's a sort of trap door or alternate route. But the goal wouldn't be for everyone to take the readiness assessment."
Kristen Darling, vice president of public policy for the Hawai'i Association for the Education of Young Children, said the organization is still looking at the implications of the bill but is opposing it for now.
Darling said the bill might help late-born boys from upper-income families, but would hurt other children. "For summer-born kids or financially disadvantaged families this is a problem," Darling said. "Families would have to afford another year of preschool and there are some families that can't afford to send their children at all."
Audrey Enseki-Tom, mother of 4-year-old Sachi, said she and her husband started looking for private kindergartens when they first thought the bill would affect their daughter. Sachi, who turned 4 in November, constantly asks how to spell words and already writes her name.
"She wants to read; she wants to write; she wants to spell. She talks about kindergarten every day," Enseki-Tom said. "We've gone to see the school. All of her neighbor friends go there."
Although Enseki-Tom was reassured by legislators that the bill would go into effect too late to hold Sachi back, Enseki-Tom is concerned for other parents.
Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono oversees the Pre-Plus program, a public-private effort to get more children from low-income families into early education programs. "This is an initiative that flows from a recognition that not all of our kids are ready to learn," Hirono said.
Several groups across the state, including Kamehameha Schools, are trying to move children into an education setting at an earlier age.
While Hirono is glad that the bill recognizes the stages of brain development in young children and the importance of entering school on a equal footing, she said cost savings should not motivate legislators. She said the state should focus on the importance of preparing children for the school experience.
Some parents expressed relief that the bill wouldn't affect their children.
Christina Ferreira's son is in preschool now at Kama'aina Kids in Kailua. But he turned 5 this month and would easily qualify for kindergarten next year even if the rules changed immediately.
"I guess that some students would have more time to learn before going to school," Ferreira said. "But I wouldn't want it to happen to me."
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
