MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Legislature on Thursday sent Gov. Kay Ivey a bill to require young public school students to attend kindergarten or take a first-grade readiness test to skip kindergarten.
Currently, kindergarten is not required in Alabama and Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, has tried for years to change that. In recent years, she got Republican help, including from Ivey.
“This is a common-sense measure that Gov. Ivey supports, and she looks forward to signing it into law,” Gina Maiola, a spokesperson for the governor, told Alabama Daily News.
Last year, the bill died on the last day of the session because of opposition from Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham. He proposed an amendment this week that pushes the requirement for the readiness test to the 2026-2027 school year, instead of 2025-2026.
Warren has been absent from the State House recently and hospitalized with complications from COVID-19. Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, carried the bill in the absence of Warren and said on the House floor Thursday that Warren was supportive of the amendment.
“She said all of her work was on behalf of the children,” Drummond said of a conversation with Warren Thursday morning. “She is so elated to finally get this bill.”
Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, who carried the bill in the Senate, told ADN that the amendment is just a slight delay.
“In 2025 when they take (the test), if a parent does feel like it’s best for their child to remain in kindergarten, they can do so,” Chesteen said of the readiness test. “But they would not be required to. They could go to first grade.”
Chesteen told ADN that as the state focuses on early literacy, including requiring students to be proficient in the subject before leaving third grade, kindergarten attendance makes sense.
“We need to give these kids who need extra help every opportunity to be successful,” Chesteen said. “And if they’re not ready for first grade there’s a pretty good indicator that some of them wouldn’t be ready (for third grade).”