A legislative committee approved a bill Tuesday that would allow parents to petition to have their children start kindergarten early if they turn 5 within a month of the cutoff date to start school.
The House Education Committee approved most of the almost dozen bills it considered Tuesday, including House Bill 1539, by Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, to allow for the birth date waiver for early admission to kindergarten.
The committee also approved legislation to develop a way to prevent unplanned pregnancies in 18- and 19-year-olds in Arkansas colleges. A bill amending the Arkansas Governor's Scholars Program, which awards scholarships to top-scoring high school students, also passed through the committee.
HB1539 allows parents with children with birthdays within 30 days of the Aug. 1 deadline for admission to kindergarten in public schools to apply for a waiver for the early start instead of waiting a year.
"What it's trying to do is widen that gray area, which right now is a very fine black line drawn in the sand and widen that out so there's a little more discretion on the part of the parents as to whether or not their child is ready," Della Rosa said.
Under the legislation, parents would have until June 1 to submit the waiver application. Schools would have until a week after school starts to determine whether there is room -- less than 90 percent classroom capacity -- for that child to start early.
Opponents of the bill said the state has made five changes to the cutoff date for kindergarten enrollment in the past eight years and at some point they have to draw a line.
"If we have a waiver that opens it up to Sept. 1, and you look at past practice on what we've done with kindergarten start date, we'll be back here in a couple of years to say we need to widen that start period," said Mike Mertens, assistant executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.
The committee also approved HB1534, by Rep. Deborah Ferguson, D-West Memphis, which would require the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop a plan to address prevention of unplanned pregnancies in 18- and 19-year-old college students.
According to the bill, of the 4,089 single teenage mothers who gave birth in 2013, 3,030 were between the ages of 18 and 19.
The legislation says community colleges and universities are a "critical venue to address prevention of unplanned pregnancies" in older teenagers.
Arkansas currently does not require K-12 schools to provide sex education to younger teenagers but restricts sexual education -- if it is taught -- to an abstinence-based curriculum.
The legislation would require the colleges and universities to find ways to incorporate pregnancy-prevention information in student orientation and advising. It also asks that the coordinating board make recommendations for how to include such information in academic courses.
The committee also approved HB1836, by Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, which amends the Arkansas Governor's Scholars Program. The legislation combines the Arkansas Governor's Scholars with the Arkansas Governor's Distinguished Scholars program.
"Essentially we don't have enough money for all the kids that have a 32 on the ACT, that's who receives the Governor's Distinguished Scholarship," said former state Rep. Ann Clemmer, now the Department of Higher Education's senior associate director of academic affairs.
The Governor's Scholarship awards one scholarship worth $4,000 to a student in each county, without the requirement of receiving a 32 on the ACT. The Governor's Distinguished Scholarship awards 300 scholarships to students who score at least a 32 on the ACT.
The change would combine the programs so students who receive a score of 32 or higher on the ACT are prioritized. Clemmer said the program still would award at least one scholarship in every county regardless of ACT score.
Metro on 03/11/2015