Should the Idaho Legislature pass House Bill 740 to require students to attend kindergarten classes?
Press-Tribune Editorial staff February 22, 2004 Idaho Press-Tribune Yes. With so much emphasis on the “No Child Left Behind” promise, why shouldn’t kindergarten be mandatory for all students? About 6.5 percent of the eligible Idaho youngsters don’t attend the voluntary class at this time. And that means that many of those same kids struggle with the learning process when they start first grade. House Bill 740 would require attendance in kindergarten in public or private schools. The proposed law grants exceptions for parents who want to seek comparable programs, including home schooling, for that first year of learning. Bill proponents say the estimated $2.2 million in additional costs to teach all kindergartners would be offset by the costs schools incur when those same children start at the first-grade level without the skills they need. In other words, they often start the first grade without adequate training and require remediation. That is expensive. It also holds back the studen
