Table 1.3. Types of state and district requirements for kindergarten entrance and attendance, by state: 2020
State | Compulsory school age |
Kindergarten entrance age |
State requires district to offer full-day kindergarten program |
State requires district to offer half-day kindergarten program |
State requires kindergarten attendance |
|||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | † | † | 21 | 1 | 25 | 1 | 20 | 1 | ||||
Alabama | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | No | No | |||||||
Alaska | 7 |
5 on or before 9/1 | No | No | No | |||||||
Arizona | 6 | 5 on or before 8/31 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Arkansas | 5 | 5 on or before 8/1 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
California | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Colorado | 6 | 5 on or before 10/1 | Yes | No | No | |||||||
Connecticut | 5 | 5 on or before 1/1 | No | Yes | Yes | |||||||
Delaware | 5 | 5 on or before 8/31 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
District of Columbia | 5 | 5 on or before 9/30 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
Florida | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | † | † | No | |||||||
Georgia | 6 | 5 by 9/1 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Hawaii | 5 | 5 on or before 7/31 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
Idaho | 7 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | No | No | |||||||
Illinois | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | 2 | Yes | 2 | No | |||||
Indiana | 7 | 5 on or before 8/1 | Yes | 2 | Yes | 2 | No | |||||
Iowa | 6 | 3 | 5 by 9/15 | No | Yes | † | ||||||
Kansas | 7 | 5 on or before 8/31 | No | Yes | † | |||||||
Kentucky | 6 | 5 on or before 7/31 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Louisiana | 7 | 5 by 9/30 | Yes | No | Yes | 4 | ||||||
Maine | 6 | 5 on or before 10/15 | No | Yes | † | |||||||
Maryland | 5 | 5 by 9/1 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
Massachusetts | 6 | Each district may establish its own minimum permissible age for school attendance |
No | Yes | † | |||||||
Michigan | 6 | 5 by 9/1 | No | No | No | |||||||
Minnesota | 7 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | No | No | |||||||
Mississippi | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | No | † | |||||||
Missouri | 7 | 5 | 5 on or before 7/31 | 6 | No | Yes | No | |||||
Montana | 7 | 5 on or before 9/10 | Yes | 2 | Yes | 2 | No | |||||
Nebraska | 6 | 5 on or before 9/30 | No | Yes | Yes | 7 | ||||||
Nevada | 7 | 5 on or before 9/30 | No | Yes | Yes | |||||||
New Hampshire | 6 | Not specified in statute or regulation |
No | No | No | |||||||
New Jersey | 6 | Local education agency (LEA) option |
8 | No | No | No | 9 | |||||
New Mexico | 5 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | Yes | Yes | |||||||
New York | 6 | LEA option | 10 | No | No | No | ||||||
North Carolina | 7 | 5 on or before 8/31 | Yes | No | No | 11 | ||||||
North Dakota | 7 | 5 on or before 7/31 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Ohio | 6 | LEA option | 12 | No | Yes | Yes | ||||||
Oklahoma | 5 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | No | Yes | 13 | ||||||
Oregon | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Pennsylvania | 6 | LEA option | 14 | No | No | Yes | ||||||
Rhode Island | 5 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
South Carolina | 5 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
South Dakota | 5 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | Yes | Yes | |||||||
Tennessee | 6 | 5 on or before 8/15 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
Texas | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | Yes | 2 | Yes | 2 | No | |||||
Utah | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | No | Yes | No | |||||||
Vermont | 6 | 5 | 15 | No | Yes | No | ||||||
Virginia | 5 | 5 on or before 9/30 | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
Washington | 8 | 5 on or before 8/31 | Yes | No | No | |||||||
West Virginia | 6 | 5 on or before 8/31 | 16 | Yes | No | Yes | ||||||
Wisconsin | 6 | 5 on or before 9/1 | 17 | No | Yes | Yes | 18 | |||||
Wyoming | 7 | 5 on or before 9/15 | No | Yes | 19 | † |
† Not applicable. | ||||||||||||
1 The total reflects the number of "Yes" responses in the column. | ||||||||||||
2 Districts must offer either full-day or half-day kindergarten. In Texas, this is an option for a school district's board of trustees. | ||||||||||||
3 Children who are 4 or 5 years old and enrolled in a school district are considered to be compulsory attendance age unless a parent or legal guardian notifies the school district in writing of their intent to remove their child from enrollment. | ||||||||||||
4 Or children must otherwise satisfactorily pass an academic readiness screening upon enrollment in grade 1. | ||||||||||||
5 A child between ages 5 and 7 can be excused from school attendance if a parent or guardian makes a written request that the child be dropped from the school’s rolls. | ||||||||||||
6 Metropolitan districts can establish a policy that a child must be 5 on or before any date between August 1 and October 1. | ||||||||||||
7 Or children must otherwise be assessed as prepared to enter grade 1. | ||||||||||||
8 Districts may admit children ages 4 and 5, and they must admit children ages 5 to 6. The cutoff date must be after October 1. | ||||||||||||
9 Children are required to attend full-day kindergarten in the Abbott Districts. | ||||||||||||
10 Students must be between the ages of 4 and 6. | ||||||||||||
11 The initial entry point into school is kindergarten, but a principal may override this for an exceptionally mature student and place the child in grade 1. | ||||||||||||
12 Districts may adopt a resolution establishing August 1 instead of September 30 as the required date by which students must have attained a specified age. | ||||||||||||
13 Minimum half-day attendance. | ||||||||||||
14 Students must be between the ages of 4 and 6. Minimum age for kindergarten entrance is 4 years 7 months before the first day of the school year. | ||||||||||||
15 LEA may require students admitted to kindergarten to attain the age of 5 on or before August 31 and January 1. | ||||||||||||
16 Beginning in the 2018–19 school year, districts must offer prekindergarten to all children who are 4 years old before July 1. | ||||||||||||
17 Kindergarten entrance age is 5 on or before September 1 for 5-year-old kindergarten or 4 on or before September 1 for 4-year-old kindergarten. | ||||||||||||
18 Children must attend in districts that offer kindergarten. | ||||||||||||
19 The state requires that LEAs offer half-day kindergarten. School districts must establish and maintain relationships with a district that offers one full-day kindergarten. | ||||||||||||
SOURCE: Education Commission of the States, 50-State Comparison: State K-3 Policies, retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.ecs.org/kindergarten-policies/, and 50-State Comparison: Free and Compulsory School Age Requirements, retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.ecs.org/50-state-comparison-free-and-compulsory-school-age-requirements/. Data Source. |