Enrolled Bill Summary

            The Education Code requires a school district to offer prekindergarten classes if it identifies 15 or more four-year-old children who are eligible by virtue of either limited English proficiency, educational disadvantage, or homelessness, and it allows a district to offer prekindergarten classes if it identifies 15 or more three-year-old children who are similarly disadvantaged. These prekindergarten classes must be operated on a half-day basis. Senate Bill 596 amends the code to prohibit a district from charging tuition for the half-day prekindergarten classes provided to disadvantaged children. The bill allows a district to provide, either on a tuition basis or by using district funds, an additional half-day of prekindergarten for such children and both half-day and full-day prekindergarten for children not otherwise eligible for the free prekindergarten classes. A district that provides a prekindergarten program on a tuition basis is prohibited from charging tuition at a rate that is higher than necessary to cover the cost of providing the program, and it must submit the proposed tuition rate to the commissioner of education for approval.

            The bill also requires a district that offers prekindergarten classes to include prekindergarten student demographic information, enrollment data, the number of half-day and full-day classes offered, and program funding sources in its report submission to the Public Education Information Management System.