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 Parents will have less choice about their child’s readiness for
school if state lawmakers pass a bill lowering the mandatory school age from 6
to 5 years old.
Senate Bill 2075 would mandate that all Illinois parents enroll their
5-year-olds in kindergarten, starting in the 2020-2021 school year. The bill
passed the Illinois Senate 39-16 on April 12.
Illinois dropped the compulsory school age from 7 to 6, starting in September
2014. Currently, parents must start their children in school at age 6 and keep
them there until age 17. SB 2075 would lower the compulsory age to 5 and require
all schools to provide kindergarten classes for 5-year-olds.
In Illinois, mandatory school attendance begins when children reach the
compulsory age on or before Sept. 1 each school year. This bill would push that
date up to May 31 each school year.
 State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, one of the bill’s chief co-sponsors,
said she wants parents to give their children a better chance at success.
“It’s time for them not to wait until their 6-years-old to start school,”
Lightford told the Illinois News Network. “If parents feel that their kids who
turn 5 over the summer months, then they have the extra year to make sure their
kids are ready.”
But parents are best suited to decide when their children are ready for school,
said state Sen. Chuck Weaver, R-Peoria.
“Parents are very concerned about the state taking the decision away from them,”
Weaver told INN. “A lot of kids aren’t prepared to go to school at age 5. This
makes that mandatory, it takes that [decision] away from parents.”
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A Senate committee hearing on SB 2075 drew seven
Illinoisans in favor of the bill, while 2,229 filed witness slips
opposing it.
Compulsory attendance begins at age 5 in nine states and the
District of Columbia, according to a 2017 survey by the Education
Commission of the States. The minimum age is 6 in 25 states, 7 in 14
states and 8 in two states.
Illinoisans currently have the option of sending their children as
young as 4 to kindergarten and are guaranteed a public education,
according to state law. Sending such a young child to school is a
choice parents make based on their judgment of their child’s growth,
abilities and maturity.
The bill does not contain a fiscal note estimating the cost to
schools from mandating they provide kindergarten for all
5-year-olds. It also provides no new funding for adding more
students. It’s all too rare for lawmakers to attach money to new
school requirements: Illinois passed 145 unfunded mandates on its
schools between 1992 and 2014.
Illinois’ current mandatory minimum school age is in line with the
bulk of other states. And parents have the option of sending a
4-year-old to school if they judge their child ready, so there is
little reason to take away parental choice over their child’s
education and replace it with a state mandate. Plus, lawmakers
should never pass laws without knowing the cost.
The bill is currently in the Illinois House Rules Committee. It
should stay there.
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