Kindergarten Cut-off Dates

I think most places it depends on state requirements. Here in TX it's Aug 31st. When I was little in OR it was like Dec or Jan. So when I moved to TX I was the youngest in my class all the way throu to graduation.

We were military, too. As such, one of my sisters (aug bday) was the youngest for several tours, and one of my brothers was oldest in several tours (nov bday).

LOL at least these days of Internet land districts GET that cutoff dates are different. My mum had a heckuva time with us older ones. Schools often thought she was lying, and more than once had to change the grade they were assigned by the new district.

It's the same lack of conformity that affects curriculum. Hate to add to your worries... But that's the least of your concerns. Some districts will considere 'elementary' curriculum to me middle or highschool curriculum, and vice versa. There will be a LOT of repitition & 'skipping grades' (aka stuff they wouldn't see for 3+ years in their old school in the same grade. There's lots of cramming like mad and being booooooored as a military kid in public school. The age differences don't even blip the radar compared to differences in curriculum scope and sequence.

Sorry to be the bearer of that bad news. But on the upside, you don't have to worry about K!!! They'll start when they are allowed to, and then they'll learn to be really flexible. (ex= algebra in 4th in one district, and algebra in 10th in another. THWIBBT!)

Dont know why but here in the Dallas, TX area it is 9/1 in most districts around the DFW area.

they're 9/1 pretty much in all of PA, although I moved to the one town it's 9/15 to save money on daycare since my daughter is 9/3 and I'm renting

Our area has historically been September 1st. When I was pregnant with my daughter, and a September 4th due date, I figured she would be a "high five" when she started school. But when it was a troublesome pregnancy and the baby was a Frank Breech position (and would not turn when they so painfully tried), I had a limited choice of when she would actually be born via C-section.

I choose August 31st for a few reasons. The Dr I actually wanted could do it that day, It was a Wednesday, which meant Hubby would have that day off with me, then he worked Th and Fri (a mile away from the hospital, so came to see me on his lunch hour those 2 days), and I left Saturday and he had the whole next week off. The timing just worked great that way. (I had one more week with her alone then she and I were back to work at my nanny job 6 hours a day for 2 weeks, then back to full days after that)

PLUS, she made the Kindy-cut off, so we got to decide if she was ready, not the date! I was one plannin' Momma!

Now our district does have an early enrollment option if they test in with it. Its a process and evaluation if they have a Sept 2-Oct 31 birthday.

It may be due to class sizes. Lower enrollments may allow them to have a longer cut off date. Ours is September 1, so DD will be a young 5 by the time she starts.

School board feelings on the subject. The School Board sets the policy on what the cut off date is.

That cut off date could have been established back in the 1800's and could have been decided on when the initial school board made a decision on when they thought a child could understand a teachers instructions. It could have also been decided on when the school board thought a child could get up on a horse and guide it to school.

I saw a program on the Discovery Channel or maybe the History Channel, that said the size of the rocket that launched the Apollo space craft for the first walk on the moon was directly related to how wide two horses rear ends were when they pulled a wagon in the Roman Empire over 2,000 years earlier. It was a fascinating program.

Good luck to you and yours.

When I was a kid it was between October 31 and December 31. Honestly, I think some districts move the date back to encourage more people to send their kids to private schools for kindergarten. At least in our district, the classes are so over-crowded that they are forever having to add portable classrooms, which costs a fortune, and of course, staffing a Kinder classroom is more expensive than staffing other classrooms (teacher's aides, etc). So, they make the school day for kindergarten as short and inconveniently timed as possible, and then move the start date back to eliminate as many kids as possible. Granted, those same kids are old enough the following year, but around here anyway, they did get a one-time savings which allowed them to meet the budget cuts for that year. And of course, continually moving the date back would give them continual one-time savings, I guess. I really think it's all about budgets, and not kids.

don't know why they vary so much. but earlier is better. our district had Oct 15 for my oldest and Oct 1 for the youngest (they changed policies between the two).

my kid have august and september birthdays. we waited on both. one turned 6 the first day of kindergarten. the other turned 6 a month after K started. while both were more than ready academically, we are extremely glad we waited. their social skills and maturity to handle the issues of school are just better as they get older. it did make their Kindergarten teacher's job harder since both were reading going in but it worked out ok. One child has 3 kids in her class that are 12 months younger than she is. Only one of these is doing well. the other two are struggling terribly with maturation-type issues. One still has crying spells (at least they are down to about 2 per week at the end of the year) in class in 2nd grade!

So, I'd wait if you have a kid near the cutoff.

good luck!

Am not completely sure but my gut feeling is that it has to do with money. The district has to fund the kids so if they can exclude those between sep-jan it saves them money. Some districts offer both young 5 for late birthday's and testing for early placement (depending on funding) But from the previous post it sounds like you have bigger fish to fry with cirriculum...i am military (reserves) but don't feel your pain. What i have noticed is that there is a big push on literacy kids are being a expected to almost be able to write a thesis by 6th grade so read read read to your child.

every state can do their own thing.. No matter what the date is.. some kids will be young.. some kids will be older.. a 12 month range of kids in the class..

MOst states have a sept 1 cutoff .. which seems to make sense as all kids would be 5..michigan has a dec 1 cut off .. some kids start k at 4 and turn 5 in the fall.