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?