Indiana Changes Birthdate Cutoff For Schools To Receive Funding For Kindergartners

The change will allow schools to receive state funding for some kindergarten students accepted before their fifth birthday.

The article below has been corrected to clarify that the law applies only to funding school corporations receive for kindergartners admitted to attend before their fifth birthday.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Under a new law, Indiana schools to get funding for kids admitted to start kindergarten before they turn five.

Kids have to be five by August 1 in order to enter kindergarten in Indiana. School corporations have the option to allow a kindergartner to begin attending prior to their fifth birthday, or to deny a prospective kindergartner early entry.

Last year, state lawmakers passed a law preventing school corporations from receiving state money for students who were under five after August 1. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick pushed for a later deadline.

“The point is move it back to around count date to capture kids who are clearly ready,” she says.

The state budget bill signed into law by Governor Eric Holcomb on Monday will move back the funding cutoff date by one month each of the next two years. By the 2020-2021 school year, that cutoff date will be October 1.

Indiana’s compulsory school age – when a child must begin going to school – is still seven-years-old. Kids are still not required to attend kindergarten in Indiana.