Request By:
Mr. Howard Hall, Superintendent
Bracken County Board of Education
P.O. Box 26
Brooksville, Kentucky 41004
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter you requested an opinion of the Attorney General interpreting House Bill 940 with regard to the effective date that kindergarten shall be provided for one-half day every day. You stated that you are of the opinion that half-day kindergarten is part of the primary school program in House Bill 940 and will not go into effect until the beginning of the 1992-93 school year. You base your conclusion on Sections 25, 31, and 94 of House Bill 940.
Section 31 amends KRS 156.160 by authorizing the State Board to promulgate administrative regulations which set standards for school districts in several areas, "including procedures for developing an ungraded primary program which shall be implemented by the beginning of the 1992-93 school year. "
In Section 25, KRS 158.030 is amended, in pertinent part, to define "primary school program" as "that part of the elementary school program in which children are enrolled from the time they begin school until they are ready to enter the fourth grade. " Under this section each student shall complete primary school prior to entering fourth grade, in contrast to the former requirement of requiring each student to complete kindergarten prior to entering first grade.
In House Bill 940, language has been removed from KRS 158.030, which allowed local school districts, with the approval of the State Department of Education, to organize the local kindergarten program in a variety of ways so long as each child would receive an average of fifteen hours of class time per week. Also, the possibility of waiving kindergarten prior to entering first grade has been removed. Now, each child shall complete the primary school program in order to enter fourth grade.
Finally, in Section 94, which amends KRS 157.320, Subsection (7) indicates that full-time kindergarten pupils are to be counted for daily attendance purposes no more than one-half day in the number of days attended by pupils in a public school divided by the number of days that the school is in session. The subsection continues, "Kindergarten is the entry level of the primary program and shall be provided at a minimum for one-half (1/2) day, five (5) days a week for a full school year for each kindergarten pupil. "
Note that, in Section 31, the ungraded primary program shall be implemented by the beginning of the 1992-93 school year. At present, of course, only kindergarten functions in an essentially ungraded manner. Grades 1-3 rely on a graded approach. Clearly, the transition period will be required to change the approach currently in effect in grades 1-3, not to change the approach in kindergarten.
There is no other option provided in the statute but minimal attendance of one-half day, five days a week, for a full school year, for each kindergarten pupil. Also, even if a student were to attend kindergarten for a full day, his school could count attendance only based on a half day.
You asked, in addition, whether funding was provided for kindergarten to be held every day for one-half day. Section 98 of House Bill 940 amends KRS 157.370, which sets forth the transportation formula for funding. According to the Legislative Research Commission staff, the statute has been funded to meet the formula, which takes into consideration such factors as the number of children and the number of miles covered. Should you anticipate difficulty in meeting the transportation needs in your district, we would recommend that you consult with the Department of Education for advice in this area.
In summary, it is the opinion of this office that the language in House Bill 940, which states that kindergarten shall be provided at a minimum for one-half day, five days a week, for a full school year, for each kindergarten pupil, went into effect on July 13, 1990. While certain revenue provisions in House Bill 940 went into effect by emergency on April 11, and special provisions of House Bill 940 have particular effective dates after July 13, 1990, it is the opinion of this office that the language providing for implementation of an ungraded primary program by the beginning of 1992-93 does not indicate that kindergarten is to be provided in any other manner, effective 1990, than that manner provided for by the express language of the statute.