Bill would require Illinois children to start school by age 5, threatening kindergarten redshirting

Sometimes parents send their kids to kindergarten at the relatively advanced age of 6 because they hope their children will enjoy an athletic or academic advantage over younger classmates. Sometimes the goal simply is to give a child who is lagging developmentally a chance to catch up.

Now this popular practice — sometimes called academic redshirting — is under threat in Illinois, with legislators considering a bill that says children must start kindergarten by age 5 instead of 6. The proposed law, Senate Bill 2075, requires that children attend kindergarten if they are 5 on or before May 31, but would allow parents of 5-year-olds with summer birthdays to choose whether to send them to kindergarten or wait an additional year.

Supporters say the bill would help disadvantaged children by assuring that they get early access to education.

“I think that we can all understand that the first years of life are critical for social, emotional and cognitive development,” said state Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, who is sponsoring the bill in the Illinois House. It already has passed in the Senate. “This is really aimed at closing the achievement gap for children, which eventually becomes, unfortunately, the wage gap and the quality of life gap and, way too often, the life expectancy gap.”

Read more: https://www.sj-r.com/news/20190419/bill-would-require-illinois-children-to-start-school-by-age-5-threatening-kindergarten-redshirting