Parents of young children, note that the state House Education Committee has approved a bill that could change the cutoff age for children entering kindergarten. The bill would move the cutoff date from October 16^th up to August 31^st.

That would keep some younger children out of the classroom. North Carolina’s current laws create a broad range of maturity levels in kindergarten classes. They enable four year olds to enter the same class as six year olds whose parents have delayed their entry to kindergarten by a year. Only seven states had cutoff entrance dates later than North Carolina in 2006.