BOARD SEEKS EARLIER SCHOOL CUT-OFF DATE; KINDERGARTNERS WOULD BE OLDER.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

The Newhall school board is hoping to rekindle state legislation to move the starting date for kindergartners back three months, a move backers say would better prepare students for the classroom and give them extra time for preschool.

The board approved a resolution last week hoping to renew interest in a bill sponsored by Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, that was held up in the Appropriations Committee by members who said it needed more work.

``We're lending our encouragement to take another look at it,'' said Marc Winger, superintendent of the Newhall School District.

Driving the board's action was teachers' overwhelming support for a later starting date and the district's year-round schedule, in which children begin the school year in July.

The resolution will be sent to Runner; state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, R-Palmdale; Gov. Gray Davis; and members of various legislative educational committees. Runner and Knight represent Santa Clarita in the state Legislature.

Assembly Bill 513 sought to change the cut-off birth date for kindergarten attendance from Dec. 2 to Sept. 1. The change would have been phased in over three years, with a one-month change each year.

``It would make the kids a little bit older when they come into kindergarten,'' Winger said. ``The intent was to give the kids more time to get ready.''

While the delayed entry would become state law, the bill gave the school districts and parents the flexibility to enroll, at the parents' request, 5-year-olds who didn't make the cut-off.

The bill would require school districts to provide parents with information on the benefits of delaying the start of the formal education.

Moving back the birthday cut-off date for kindergarten enrollment would result in more children being developmentally ready for kindergarten, bringing lower retention rates and more equivalent comparison on national tests to other states with earlier cut-off dates.

Officials said that during the downtime, parents could take advantage of preschool programs or other educational opportunities.

Newhall is particularly interested in changing the law because it is on a multitrack, year-round program, where the new school year begins two months earlier than traditional schedules.

``Multitrack allows the kids to come in as early as July - three of the tracks - and the other starts in August. We have 4-year-olds coming into kindergarten,'' Winger said.

School officials said that they have been reviewing the change for some time, but were finally persuaded to compose the resolution when the 35 kindergarten teachers in the district gave it their overwhelming support.

``The key issue was polling the teachers,'' Winger said. ``Teachers said that it was important to give kids that extra time.''

In 1995, a similar bill failed to get through the Assembly.

A 1992 effort proposed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson as part of his annual budget failed when the Legislature questioned whether the motivation was a one-time effort to save money for education by reducing the number of pupils.