Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on June 14, 2006

Click here to view bill details.

The earlier we can get those kids in there, the better BUT not for the same old, same old. Our state would do WELL to make sure that every kindergarten teachers is trained in Lindamood Bell's LiPS phonemic awareness program. Phonemic awareness is a hallmark of dyslexia. Therefore, statewide emphasis on it in Kindergarten would prevent problems down the road. LiPS is an EXPLICIT researched based way to teach it. It helps kids using mirrors if necessary to see how their mouths should look when they make a particular sound. Some kids need instruction that specific to hear separate words in a sound. SPEECH teachers have been using this program for YEARS or if not LiPS then some similar program. This program would easily integrate with the MLPP and balanced literacy already in place. It would enhance it as they address phonemic awareness already. LiPS in a more explicit way of teaching phonemic awareness skills and addresses its importance in reading failure prevention. SENATE BILL No. 1306 June 14, 2006, Introduced by Senators CLARK-COLEMAN, SCOTT, LELAND, THOMAS, JACOBS, SWITALSKI, SCHAUER, BASHAM, BRATER, EMERSON, WHITMER and BARCIA and referred to the Committee on Education. A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled "The revised school code," by amending sections 1147 and 1561 (MCL 380.1147 and 380.1561), section 1561 as amended by 1996 PA 339. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT: Sec. 1147. (1) A person, resident of a school district not maintaining a kindergarten and at least 5 years of age on the first day of enrollment of the school year, shall have a right to attend school in the district. (2) In a school district where provision is made for kindergarten work, a child, resident of the district, (1) A school district shall provide kindergarten. The length of the school day for the kindergarten program shall be the same as for other elementary grades provided by the school district. (2) A child who resides in the school district is entitled to enroll in the kindergarten if the child is at least 5 years of age on December 1 of the school year of enrollment. In a school district which that has semiannual promotions, a child , resident of the district, who resides in the school district is entitled to enroll in kindergarten for the second semester if the child is at least 5 years of age on March 1 of the year of enrollment. Sec. 1561. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, every parent, guardian, or other person in this state having control and charge of a child from the age of 6 5 to the child's sixteenth birthday shall send that child to a public school during the entire school year. The child's attendance shall be continuous and consecutive for the school year fixed by the school district in which the child is enrolled. In a school district that maintains school during the entire calendar year and in which the school year is divided into quarters, a child is not required to attend the public school more than 3 quarters in 1 calendar year, but a child shall not be absent for 2 or more consecutive quarters. (2) A child becoming 6 5 years of age before December 1 shall be enrolled on the first school day of the school year in which the child's sixth fifth birthday occurs. A child becoming 6 5 years of age on or after December 1 shall be enrolled on the first school day of the school year following the school year in which the child's sixth fifth birthday occurs. (3) A child is not required to attend a public school in any of the following cases: (a) The child is attending regularly and is being taught in a state approved nonpublic school, which teaches subjects comparable to those taught in the public schools to children of corresponding age and grade, as determined by the course of study for the public schools of the district within which the nonpublic school is located. (b) The child is less than 9 years of age and does not reside within 2-1/2 miles by the nearest traveled road of a public school. If transportation is furnished for pupils in the school district of the child's residence, this subdivision does not apply. (c) The child is age 12 or 13 and is in attendance at confirmation classes conducted for a period of 5 months or less. (d) The child is regularly enrolled in a public school while in attendance at religious instruction classes for not more than 2 class hours per week, off public school property during public school hours, upon written request of the parent, guardian, or person in loco parentis under rules promulgated by the state board. (e) The child has graduated from high school or has fulfilled all requirements for high school graduation. (f) The child is being educated at the child's home by his or her parent or legal guardian in an organized educational program in the subject areas of reading, spelling, mathematics, science, history, civics, literature, writing, and English grammar. (4) For a child being educated at the child's home by his or her parent or legal guardian, exemption from the requirement to attend public school may exist under either subsection (3)(a) or (3)(f), or both.

Very thoughtful legislation.

Full day kindergarten is a good idea but where is the funding? This is going to require additional funds for more teachers, more classrooms, etc. Also, I think we should change the word "shall" to "may" when we're talking about enrolling children in kindergarten. Some kids will be starting school at 4 (because they don't have to turn 5 until Dec. 1)under this bill, as they do now but with the word "shall", it doesn't appear that parents have the option of holding their kid out for that extra year. Some 4 year olds simply aren't ready to start school (especially a full day). Parents should be given the option of holding their child out until they are 5.

good point

How many studies must we have, how many more debates, when we know that early childhood education is the best predictor of success in later school years. It has been said, if you want to increase high school graduation rates, fund pre-school. So two things are required: full day kindergarten for children turning 5 by Dec. 1 and the funding to assure they are receiving high quality instruction.

Make sure you have planned time for implementation if you go through with this. Give schools a chance to meet the demands of new legislation.

Talk this through with educators, please, before jumping in. Make a sound decision on this one.

PLEASE.

It's only a matter of time before this is in effect. With the increasing demands of state curriculum it's only natural that districts allow more time in the day for instruction. Half day kindergarten programs are challenged with the increased expectations placed upon them. It's imperative that we support this idea with INCREASED FUNDING! Districts will be in the position of maintaining what they offer now (1/2 day programs) if funding isn't increased. As it stands every 1/2 day K student recieves the same amount of funding as a full time High School student. Districts will loose funding if this is passed as is without the financial backing.

This is a terrible bill. 5 year olds do not need to be in school all day. Parent's need choice in this matter.

This piece of legislation is nuts! What we need is to change the student teacher ratio. 1 teacher to 5 students! This can be done if the government quits giving billions of our dollars to foreign aid. No Child Left Behind is Joke! No funding exists to change the student teacher ratio- it only penalizes the teacher who has to deal up to 30 students, its nothing but penalites! No solutions! One Teaching position in Rockford, MI had over 1,000 applications of certfied teachers! We have the people power to solve our education problems! We have to write our congress and tell them- no more money to foreign aid! -Why should we give for foreign countries when all they do is tell how stupid we are and how dumb our students are!

This piece of legislation is nuts! What we need is to change the student teacher ratio. 1 teacher to 5 students! This can be done if the government quits giving billions of our dollars to foreign aid. No Child Left Behind is Joke! No funding exists to change the student teacher ratio- it only penalizes the teacher who has to deal up to 30 students, its nothing but penalites! No solutions! One Teaching position in Rockford, MI had over 1,000 applications of certfied teachers! We have the people power to solve our education problems! We have to write our congress and tell them- no more money to foreign aid! -Why should we give for foreign countries when all they do is tell how stupid we are and how dumb our students are!

I vote to keep kindergarten a half day program. Too many children are not ready for a full day away from home. It will come soon enough. Allow more time for nurturing at home tho I know that for too many it would still mean daycare for the other half of the day. Don't deny parental choice. Give parents the option. Kamille Karlson

Must be DeVos! Save our State.

A 4 year old doesn't need to be in kindergarten...especially not all day kindergarten! And yes, if your child will turn 5 by December 1st, that means there will be 4 year olds in all day kindergarten. 4 year olds need to learn by playing and helping around the house and having stories read to them...not by being made to sit still and do worksheet after busywork worksheet. Wake up and pay attention...little kids don't learn best this way! Let little kids be little kids and stay home with their moms where they belong.

I've been teaching K for 13 years and would vote whole heartedly for a full day program. The students need it, the families need it. We could do SO MUCH MORE with the additional time!!!!!!!!!! This would be a tremendous benefit to children preparing for reading instruction.

I forgot to add that the mandatory age cut off date should be moved to August 1 or September 1 at the latest.

"We have to write our congress and tell them- no more money to foreign aid!" We'll do this right after the schools tell us how much of their bloated budgets go toward teaching. We also would like to know the number of teachers that consider themselves liberal vs. conservative. I don't want one more dime of my money going to indoctrinate the children. The once grand teaching profession has become a cesspool of liberal slackers that can't cut it in the real world so they teach the evils of capitalism to the children.

A parent can teach a child more in 4 hours a day that the schools can in a month. This is just an excuse for the schools to scream about needing more of your money.

0-5 window of opportunity

This is my 16th year teaching in public education, and my 10th year teaching kindergartners. I love teaching these young children, but I feel like they are being cheated by the limited time they are with me at school each week, especially now that so much more expected of them much earlier. Telling time, tallying, reading graphs, charts, knowing 3 parts of the eye (really!!), addition and subtration, the list goes on and on. Could most of them learn this through many repetitions of hands-on activities, you bet! But I said many repetitions and that can't happen with alternate-day kindergarten. I teach in a district where Kindergarten students attend school on an all day/alternate day schedule. They attend either Mon/Wed or Tues/Th and alternate Fridays. For some children this schedule works just okay, they have support at home and they do fine. But for the majority of children who have not had people in their lives who talk, explain concepts, answer questions, count, talk about shapes, letters and colors and read to them, this schedule is terrible! Children thrive on routines, but teaching routines on this schedule is difficult because there isn't real routine in their school attendance. I have had children who were ill for a few days and miss their T/TH (or M/W, it happens to both groups of kids) on a week when they are not scheduled to attend on Friday, there have been times this schedule has made these kids not see their classrom for 11 days!! I currently have more curriculum to teach than I have time to teach it, and I always feel as if I am skimming the surface with my students. They have little time to talk to me one-on-one, little time to share with their peers, if you remember Show-and-Tell time each week you may not have realized that that was your introduction to Public Speaking. The rest of the class that was their audience also learned about asking questions, and learned what questions were through Show-and-Tell. We now have little time to have Show-and-Tell or share and discuss stories as a group. Children are expected to come to me with many basic concepts already taught in preschool, but what about 20%-30% of my class who has not gone to any preschool? We have little time to teach about traditions and holidays, such as Thanksgiving, which is what much of our old Social Studies curriculum consisted of before it was decided that 4, 5 and 6 year olds needed to be taught more "mature" content earlier. Although I don't think the alternate-day kindergarten program should survive after this academic year, 2006-07, if it does I will continue to teach it because I love teaching these young children, it is my passion. One more item to consider...again, the cut-off date for kindergarten should be moved to August 1 or September 1 at the latest. At the beginning of each year my students ages range from 4 years 9 months to 6 years+. Their is often a range of 18 months within my class, which doesn't sound like much when you are in your 40s, but at this young age the difference in maturity is phenomenal. Sincerely, Mary Coonen

You must VOTE for DeVos. Give the kids a chance to have a bright future. A vote for jenny darkens their chances.

All Day/Every Day Kindergarten is a must for student achievement. Early language development determines, in many ways, how well a child will learn. The more time spent helping children address possible deficits at the earliest age is time well spent. Too bad we are not pouring money into programs serving children ages birth to four, but this step with Kindergarten is in the right direction!

How long has it been since you've actually spent any amount of time in a school? 20-30 years? Why don't you actually go into a school and see what teachers actually do before you spout garbage like "cesspool of liberal slackers who can't cut it in the real world"?

All day kindergarten should be available but not mandatory for children. Every kindergartner does not need a full day program. My children were already reading prior to kindergarten and had strong skills in the other areas of literacy. There was no need for them to have a full day program. Certainly have it available for those children who need the extra support to develop literacy but don't force it on the children who do not need it. Also, do not forget that this mandate will double the number of kindergarten teachers and classrooms that each district needs to have. Money expended for teaching materials will also double. How many districts have that much extra money available? Let's not forget that the state and federal governments love to pass mandates without providing funding. What are you willing for your children to do without so that the district will be able to afford mandated full day kindergarten for all children?

Most teachers admit to being leftist/liberal Most teachers come out of the bottom 10% of any college. Throwing money at the problem doesn't help. In the teachers defense, the one thing that matters most is having parents that are involved and care.

Cite your source for those statistics, please. Without documentation and source material to back up what you say, its all libel and innuendo.

What is going on here. Why have children if you do not want to take the time to nurture, love and give them the security they need to go on to school. Full day kindergaten NO! YES, for some of the children who have no one to come home to after school. But no for the children who have families and a warm, HEALTHY lunch waiting for them in the afternoon.

"2 day and one half day" no no good. Babies need structure people. some still nap. Five day, half day. So wonderful! Child gets school, a half day with Mom learning things that shcool can not teach. 1st grade, child gets kicked out of the ole nest and is off to shcool full day. Lets look at the childrens best interest here not the double income parents.

We definitely need to pad the teachers' union ranks, protect cushy administrator jobs, and get the leg up on indoctrinating "our" kids in Collectivism (our religion), locking kids up safe from the clutches of dangerous and subversive parents at as young an age as possible. I support this bill.

It sickens me to read most of the comments about bills in Michigan, particularly about early childhood education. I am not a Michigan native, thankfully, and hopefully will not have to raise my children here. On the other hand, I am an early childhood educator and am saddened at the ignorance of people in this state. It is a fact, the way the standards are now, Kindergarteners SHOULD NOT be allowed to enter when they are still 4. Michigan is one of the last states to still have this written into law. Additionally, Kindergarteners should attend full day Kindergarten. I have taught half day, full day and alternate Kindergarten and full day is by far the best. They get more attention, more practice, and more time to be a kid since we don't have to cram everything into 2.5 hours. Think and research before you open you mouths to speak.

"I am an early childhood educator" And I am just a common sense guy who believes that the best place for small chidren is in the home, not locked down in some liberal indoctrination camp. We've been doing it your way for over 50 years and the kids aren't getting any smarter.

But all too often we see that common sense turns out to be nonsense. The early childhood educator his it right. Of the various kindergarten formats that have been used over the years, all-day works best -- educationally and socially -- for kids five years of age and up. It is amazing that in this day and age there continues to be any argument over that question. Most objections seem to come from parents who have exaggerated fears and abysmally low expectations regarding what their children can handle and thrive on. If you object strenuously to this kind of thing, don't participate. Make an educator's commitment and home school your kids. Then you won't have the public schools to whine and gripe about, and assail, and everybody will be a lot happier and better off. Maybe even your own kids. Who knows? (But don't forget that educator's commitment aspect of home schooling. One of the great common sense life lessons -- and in this case a valid one -- is, an inconvenient catch can be found in everything, especially utopian ideas. like home schooling.)

"I am a taxfattened Marxist trough-feeder and am saddened at the ignorance of people in this state." I'm saddened that liberty is such a scary concept for you. "Kindergarteners should attend full day Kindergarten." So sez the state youth indoctrination agent. Special hint--they're not your kids and its not your money.

"But all too often we see that common sense turns out to be nonsense." And up is down and red is blue. That made no sense at all. Stop huffing the whiteboard markers. "The early childhood educator his it right. Of the various kindergarten formats that have been used over the years, all-day works best -- educationally and socially -- for kids five years of age and up." They're not your kids. "It is amazing that in this day and age there continues to be any argument over that question. Most objections seem to come from parents who have exaggerated fears and abysmally low expectations regarding what their children can handle and thrive on." That's nice (well not really), but they're not your kids. Step off. "If you object strenuously to this kind of thing, don't participate. Make an educator's commitment and home school your kids. Then you won't have the public schools to whine and gripe about, and assail, and everybody will be a lot happier and better off. Maybe even your own kids. Who knows?" But you statists now want to "register" the home-schooled kids, while the home-schoolers keep getting looted to pay for your reprogramming centers. You won't REALLY let us opt out. You will enforce ever more control over home-schooling until it's not really home-schooling anymore. Then you can abolish it like Commiefornia did last month. Let's Go State! "(But don't forget that educator's commitment aspect of home schooling. One of the great common sense life lessons -- and in this case a valid one -- is, an inconvenient catch can be found in everything, especially utopian ideas. like home schooling." So you'd like us all suspend common sense for the growth of YOUR collectivist "utopia" (dystopia) (and at gunpoint, of course). I see. Niiiiiice Marxist. I'll just back away slowly toward the door...

You Say "It sickens me to read most of the comments about bills in Michigan" I Say "It sickens me to read all the idiotic bills that they try to shove down our throats" You should move to a true workers paradise like cuba or north lorea. I say "liberal control freaks sicken me" I say "The "Unbelievable Ignorance" of most voters in michiganistan is what caused us to be the worst state in the nation for business.

Full day kindergarten should be available as an option but not as a mandate. We need to take a close look at the benefits and drawbacks of such a mandate before we implement it. The research that I have been able to find suggests mixed results. Some studies suggest that the benefits of full day kindergarten last until 4th grade, some others suggest the benefits last only until 2nd grade. The design of the kindergarten program also needs to be looked at closely before we implement anything. A well designed half day program is much better than a poorly designed full day program. We also run the risk of making too many academic demands on the kids if we go to a full day program. Kindergarten curriculum standards are incredibly demanding as of right now; we don't need the legislature saying, "Well, you have them for a full day now so we can add even more things to your curriculum." Whether or not a child attends for a full day should be a decision made by the parents and teacher working together on a case by case basis.

state run education and the teachers unions is summed up in your statement..."Kindergarten curriculum standards are incredibly demanding as of right now;" B.S. One hundred years ago the average fourth grader was expected to know what high school grads today struggle with. We need to get rid of self esteem based so called learning and get back to teaching. if the self serving teachers unions can't or won't do it then they should be abolished. How many more generations are we willing to throw under the bus?????

For those who have the intellectual curiosity to actually learn about (rather than assume) what our state’s kids in kindergarten are expected to master, these are the Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations (state curriculum) for reading at the kindergarten level. ----------------------- Word Recognition and Word Study *Phonemic Awareness Phonemic Awareness Students will … ... demonstrate phonemic awareness by the wide range of sound manipulation competencies including sound blending and deletion. … recognize that words are composed of sounds blended together and carry meaning. *Phonics Students will... … understand the alphabetic principle, that sounds in words are expressed by the letters of the alphabet. … use grapho-phonemic (letter-sound) cues to recognize a few one-syllable words when presented completely out of context. Begin to associate letters and sounds, particularly initial and final consonants. *Word Recognition Students will … … automatically recognize a small number (about 18) of frequently encountered, personally meaningful words in print. … make progress in automatically recognizing a few of the 220 Dolch basic sight words. … follow familiar written text while pointing to matching words. … narrow possibilities in predicting words using initial letters/sounds (phonics), patterns of language (syntactic), and picture clues (semantic). … know the meanings of words encountered frequently in grade-level reading and oral language contexts. *Vocabulary Students will ... … in context, determine the meaning of a few words, familiar and repeated phrases including objects, actions, concepts, content vocabulary, and literary terms, using strategies and resources including picture clues, prediction, and other people. *Fluency Students will ... … automatically apply the following aspects of fluency: naming of letters, association of letters and their sounds, recognition of a few words both when encountered in context and isolation, and demonstrating understanding of concepts of print. *Narrative Text Students will ... … become familiar with classic, multicultural, and contemporary literature recognized for quality and literary merit that represents our common heritage as well as cultures from around the world. … identify the basic form and purpose of a variety of narrative genre including stories, nursery rhymes, poetry, and songs. … discuss setting, characters, and events in narrative text. … identify how authors/illustrators use literary devices including pictures and illustrations to support the understanding of settings and characters. … respond to individual and multiple texts by fi nding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to refl ect, make meaning, and make connections. *Informational Text Students will ... … identify and describe the basic form and purpose of a variety of informational genre including environmental text, concept books, and picture books. … with teacher guidance, discuss informational text patterns including descriptive and sequential. … explain how authors use text features including pictures, illustrations, and icons to enhance the understanding of key ideas presented in descriptive (definitions, enumeration) and sequential (directions, steps, procedures) organizational patterns. … respond to individual and multiple texts by fi nding evidence, discussing, illustrating, and/or writing to refl ect, make meaning, and make connections. *Comprehension Students will ... … begin to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections and comparisons by activating prior knowledge and connecting personal knowledge and experience to ideas in text through oral and written responses. … retell up to three events from familiar text using their own words or phrasing. … begin to make connections across texts by making meaningful predictions based on illustrations or portions of texts. … apply significant knowledge from grade-level science, social studies, and mathematics texts. *Metacognition Students will ... … self-monitor comprehension when reading or listening to familiar text by using simple strategies to increase comprehension including making credible predictions based on illustrations. … construct and convey meaning using strategies including story grammar to identify the author’s perspective (e.g., fi rst, second, and third person) and sorting and ordering information. *Critical Standards Students will ... … recognize how to assess personal writing and the writing of others with teacher supervision. *Reading Attitude Students will … … become enthusiastic about reading and learning how to read. … choose books, book activities, word play, and writing on their own during free time in school and at home. -----------------------------------------