Making Kindergarten Attendance Mandatory

Re “Legislation Seeking Compulsory Kindergarten Faces Budget Obstacle,” July 11:

This is part of the education game of our state: Set standards and expectations for kindergarten students without actually requiring their attendance in that grade level. Move them into first and second grades, where they will automatically be behind academically, and then bemoan the fact that they aren’t performing well on state testing. Lobby for a bigger share of the state budget to hire more educrats, upgrade the curriculum and promote teacher training. (The poor test scores were, of course, the fault of the teachers.)

After all that, come up with the bright idea that maybe we should be mandating kindergarten attendance.

Considering that the majority of my kindergarten students begin their year at least a year behind developmentally (because education is not stressed in their home lives), I’m wondering if it will take another 50 years before our state education experts realize we should be requiring preschool as well.

Steve Ormond

Thousand Oaks