Mandatory Kindergarten in Wisconsin

In case you weren’t paying attention, this is about to happen.

A bill that would require all children to complete kindergarten before entering the first grade in Wisconsin is set to pass the Legislature this week.

The Assembly passed the bill last week, and the Senate is set to take it up on Tuesday. From there it will head to Gov. Jim Doyle for his consideration.

Each year, an average of just 117 first-graders haven’t been to kindergarten. That’s about one-third of 1 percent of the total number of first-graders as of last school year.

Few thoughts…

First, this is a solution in search of a problem.  Of the thousands of school kids in this state, we’re talking about 117 kids who didn’t attend kindergarten, and I’m willing to bet that almost all of them were perfectly fine and ready for first grade. 

Second, remember how kindergarten started in the public schools?  It was supposed to be a nice voluntary program to provide some foundational instruction.  Now it’s going to be mandatory.  Remember this as your local school district pitched 4-year-old kindergarten as a voluntary program.  That’s how it starts.

Third, since there isn’t a real problem here, why is this sailing through the legislature?  Easy.  Money.  If kindergarten is mandatory, then every school district has to have teachers and classrooms and money and curriculum and everything else that goes with a mandatory grade.  It’s another big sloppy kiss for WEAC from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.  

Hat tip Berry Laker.