Plan to Raise Kindergarten Age Dies in Committee

A State Board of Education proposal to raise the minimum age for children to start kindergarten failed to win approval in the legislature’s Education Committee Wednesday, effectively killing the plan for now.

The proposal would have moved back the date to Oct. 1 by which children must turn 5 in order to enter kindergarten. The current date is Jan. 1.

The bill had the support of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. But committee members argued that the change would prevent thousands of state children from entering kindergarten in the fall.

Committee co-chairman Andy Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, was vocal in his opposition to the proposal. He referred to the practice of so-called “redshirting,” as bad public policy.

State educators favored raising the age in order to narrow the current disparity in many kindergarten classes, in which pupils may range in age from 4 to 7 years old.

The committee did approve a bill that would require children to enter kindergarten if they are turning 6 during the school year, thereby avoiding 7-year-old kindergarten pupils.