Are your kids too young for kindergarten?
by Natalia Mielczarek
The idea of looking at her son and saying "John, honey, they changed the rules, and you have to stay at home with Mommy another year" pains Michelle Rocha. Her son will turn 5 in August and is scheduled to go to kindergarten this fall. But a lawmaker from rural northeast Tennessee wants kindergartners to be older before they start school and is proposing increasing the age requirement by 3 months. The proposal comes as Gov. Phil Bredesen is pushing in the opposite direction: starting children in schools earlier through pre-kindergarten programs.
The Tennessean, 2/13/2007