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District of Columbia State Board of Education
441 4th Street NW, Suites 530S & 723N | Washington, DC 20001
(202) 741-0888 | sboe.dc.gov | sboe@dc.gov | @DCSBOE
June 24, 2025
The Honorable Phil Mendelson,
Chairman
Council of the District of Columbia
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 504
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Chairman Mendelson:
Enclosed for consideration and approval by the Council of the District of Columbia are the "Let
Students Attend Kindergarten Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 ," the " Let Students
Attend Kindergarten Temporary Amendment Act of 2025, and the accompanying
emergency declaration resolution.
The State Board of Education approved this proposed bill for transmittal to the District of
Columbia Council by a vote of 7-0-1 on June 18, 2025.
If you or your staff have any questions about this legislation, please get in touch with me at (202)
741- 0888 or bernice.butler@dc.gov.
On behalf of the State Board of Education, I respectfully request that the Council take prompt
action on the enclosed legislation.
Sincerely,
Bernice D. Butler
Executive Director
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7 A RESOLUTION
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at the request of the State
Board of Education
11 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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16 To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend compulsory
17 school enrollment requirements to ensure minors attending pre-kindergarten
18 programs are not considered truant or victims of educational neglect; to ensure
19 that if a minor living in another state turns five after that state's kindergarten
20 entrance-age date cutoff, but before September 30, and then the family moves into
21 the District during the DC school year, that the child will not be considered truant;
22 to ensure students enrolled in private or parochial pre-k programs and students
23 moving into the District of Columbia shall be permitted to be enrolled in
24 kindergarten at the request of the minor's parent or guardian; and to ensure that
25 students who relied upon prior communications by DC Public Schools related to
26 feeder pattern advancement are not disadvantaged by that reliance since the
27 school lottery has passed.
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29 RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That
30 this resolution may be cited as the "Let Students Attend Kindergarten Emergency
31 Declaration Resolution of 2025".
32 Sec. 2. (a) D.C. Public Schools ("DCPS") has abruptly changed long-standing
33 kindergarten enrollment policies without providing advanced notice to families and
34 private and parochial pre-kindergarten facilities and has reversed written commitments
35 DCPS made regarding kindergarten enrollment, feeder patterns, and sibling preferences,
36 which families have relied upon, thus preventing families from making informed
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38 (b) D.C. Official Code § 38–202(a) requires “Every parent, guardian, or other 39 person, who resides permanently or temporarily in the District during any school year and 40 who has custody or control of a minor who has reached the age of 5 years or will become 41 5 years of age on or before September 30th of the current school year shall place the 42 minor in regular attendance in an educational institution during the period of each year 43 when the public schools of the District are in session.” 44 (c) D.C. Official Code § 38–201(2A) defines an “educational institution” as “a 45 school in the District of Columbia Public Schools system, a public charter school, an 46 independent school, a private school, a parochial school, or a private instructor.” 47 (d) DCPS is interpreting private and parochial pre-k programs to not satisfy the 48 definition of a “school” under D.C. Official Code § 38–201(2A). 49 (e) Lafayette Elementary School, Ross Elementary School, and all Ward 3 50 elementary schools lack any pre-kindergarten in-boundary pre-k classes for three-year-51 olds due to school overcrowding caused by the District of Columbia’s (“District”) failure 52 to build or acquire adequate elementary school physical space in these geographic areas. 53 (f) Although DCPS, charter school, and public pre-k3 requires a student to turn 54 three by September 30 of the current school year to enroll, numerous private and 55 parochial pre-k programs have historically enrolled children based on the child’s age at 56 the beginning of their school year. The Office of the State Superintendent of Education 57 (“OSSE”) requires a facility to specify the ages of students it serves on its license, and 58 although programs can add two-year-olds to pre-k3 to serve youth with September 59
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birthdays, numerous facilities have not done so, because they received no notice of the 60 DCPS shift in policy. 61 (g) DCPS has reversed enrollment deferrals, which it had already previously 62 approved for students with developmental delays, without reassessing the readiness of 63 children for first grade. 64 (h) Parents who enrolled in private or parochial pre-k programs, and who 65 completed pre-k3 and pre-k4 instruction, are now being told they must skip DCPS 66 kindergarten, and these students are being enrolled in first grade by DCPS. 67 (i) DCPS officials instructed multiple families to withdraw their children from the 68 pre-k4 programs that their children were currently attending, with only approximately 69 two months left in the school year, and demanded they enroll these children in DCPS 70 kindergarten. 71 (j) DCPS officials reported at least two families to the DC Child and Family 72 Services Agency (“CFSA”) for investigation of educational neglect due to purported 73 chronic absenteeism and truancy, even though the minor children were attending high-74 quality pre-k4 programs. 75 (k) The District of Columbia is tied for the latest compulsory kindergarten 76 entrance-age date cutoff in the country with the state of Virginia, which shares the 77 September 30 age cutoff, but has a flexible enrollment deferral option if a child is not 78 ready for kindergarten. 79 (l) If a minor living in another state turns five after that state’s kindergarten 80 entrance-age date cutoff, but before September 30, and then the family moves into the 81
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District during the DC school year, DCPS will currently interpret that minor child to be 82 truant. 83 (m) If a minor living in another state turns five after that state’s kindergarten 84 entrance-age date cutoff, but before September 30, and then the family moves into the 85 District during the DC school year, DCPS is refusing to allow those children to attend 86 kindergarten, and is requiring them to attend first grade. 87 (n) DCPS is required to consider educational proficiency and physical, social, or 88 emotional development under DCMR § 2201.6 in the promotion of students in pre-89 kindergarten through eighth grade, but appears to be dismissing these factors, in 90 deference to a rigid age cutoff. 91 (o) No child should be denied the right to attend kindergarten, which is the 92 beginning of their formal, compulsory education. 93 (p) DCPS did not provide adequate notice to families, who have been forced to 94 rely on the private and parochial pre-k educational system, that DCPS was no longer 95 utilizing the flexibility provided in DCMR § 2201.6 for enrolling students graduating 96 from pre-k4 programs into kindergarten. 97 (q) DCPS should not be reversing prior commitments it has made, in writing, on 98 enrollment deferrals and boundary assignments, which families have relied upon. 99 (r) A two-year delay of kindergarten enrollment policy changes and a one-year 100 delay of boundary assignment changes provide adequate communication to families, 101 DCPS staff, and pre-k facilities of the proposed changes. 102
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(s) A five-year-old minor who is attending a pre-K4 program should not be 103 reported to CFSA for truancy, and this legislation is necessary to ensure DCPS ceases 104 any further reporting of families attending pre-k4 to CFSA. 105 (t) Forcing a student to withdraw from a pre-k4 program to enroll that minor in 106 kindergarten with just months remaining in the school year is not in the best interests of 107 the minor child. 108 (u) When a minor who was living in another state and who turned five after that 109 state’s kindergarten entrance-age date cutoff, but before September 30, and then the 110 family moves into the District of Columbia during the DC school year, that minor should 111 be allowed to attend DCPS kindergarten. 112 (v) Amendments to DC law are needed to ensure all students may attend 113 kindergarten in School Years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, which provides time for proper 114 notice to parents and pre-kindergarten programs and allows for Council and SBOE 115 evaluation and oversight of DCPS policy changes. 116 (w) Amendments to DC law are needed to ensure students impacted by feeder 117 pattern and sibling preference changes are able to make informed choices in the 2026 My 118 School DC Lottery and allows for Council and SBOE evaluation and oversight of DCPS 119 policy changes. 120 Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances 121 enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the 122 Let Students Attend Kindergarten Emergency Amendment Act of 2025 be adopted after a 123 single reading. 124 Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately. 125