The Indianapolis Star has an article about entitled Bill would let kindergartners enroll earlier.
I discussed this earlier but may have been wrong about my impression that they were always tinkering with this. According to the article, it has come up 3 times in the past 6 years but has always failed. They must have changed it at some point, because I enrolled in kindergarten in Sept. 1976, having just turned 5 in August of 1976. Friends of mine would have enrolled at the age of 4 with September birthdays. The article says that Indiana with the July cutoff has the oldest enrollment in the nation with a few other states having an August cutoff. This time around, it apparently has the support of Gov. Daniels and Republicans, so it might just pass if the money can be found for the schools that might be overcrowded.
In any event, I doubt it matters a great deal between July and October. Some kids are going to fall on the wrong side of the gap either way, and there needs to be flexibility to correct that. And, it sounds like this bill does it. Ultimately, you have to rely on parents to make the right decision, and some of them won’t do it.
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