For many adults, the first real memories they have of their early childhood are probably some of the things they did in kindergarten.
But many of the kids who were that age during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, won’t have memories like that, because many of them didn’t go to kindergarten because the in-class learning didn’t happen much, replaced instead by distance learning, in front of a computer.
In California, kindergarten enrollment dropped nearly 12% in the 2020-21 academic year compared to the previous year, according to the state Department of Education.
School officials have been concerned about the impact of a sizable drop in all enrollment, K through 12th. They say a lot of kids, most especially the youngest ones fell behind during the pandemic years.
So that’s why Governor Newsom’s veto of a bill that would have made kindergarten mandatory in California is getting a lot of attention.
Especially with 20 other states that do require kindergarten. Newsom says the estimated cost, about $268 million annually, was not in the state budget.
But with recent studies that show that kids who go to kindergarten can be more likely to go to college and that disparities in academic opportunity begin as early as kindergarten, will there be a different kind of cost later?
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: AFP via Getty Images