An amendment to a proposed bill before the Hawaii State Senate would enable children who turn five by the end of December each year to enroll in kindergarten at the age of four, but the amendment’s sponsor is already seeking to have it removed.
The legislation in question – House Bill 1362 – deals with incentives for early childhood educators, according to coverage by Hawaii Public Radio. The concept is to hopefully entice recent teaching graduates from the University of Hawaii to stay in the state by offering them a stipend to work in pre-kindergarten programs.
"The proposal to move that date back so that children actually would be starting kindergarten when they were four years old – and they would turn five through the fall – we don’t feel it’s developmentally appropriate,” Deborah Zysman, Hawaii Children’s Action Network Speaks executive director, told Public Radio. We feel that children should be in high-quality preschools when they are four years old.”
Zysman said that her organization, an education advocacy group, strongly supports expanded and improved preschool education for Hawaii, Public Radio reported. State Sen. Michelle Kidani (D-Mililani), who chairs the state Senate Education Committee and introduced the amendment, did not comment on the reason for the amendment, but her office told Public Radio she is working to have it stuck from the bill.