CINCINNATI — A new state law changing kindergarten enrollment cutoff dates is leaving some parents scrambling to find preschools and facing unexpected costs.
The new law requires children to be 5 years old by the first day of school.
Previously, the decision was left up to individual districts, and cutoff dates varied throughout August and September.
Under the new rules, if a district's first day of school is August 15, a child who turns 5 on September 1 will miss the cutoff by two weeks.
The change came as a surprise to many families who were planning to send their children to kindergarten and now realize those kids are no longer eligible.
Watch to learn from families about the impact the new law has had:
Families were faced with finding a preschool for another year or paying for another year of day care.
Renee Brownfield, director of the Mariemont Community Church Preschool, said the situation has caused stress for families.
"Starting in February, I was receiving phone calls from parents who were basically in panic mode," Brownfield said. "They had just been told even though they had registered their child for kindergarten, they were then suddenly told their child is not going to be able to attend kindergarten in the fall. Your first instinct is going to say, let’s find a preschool or any kind of child care for one more year — well, by the time they’re calling us, we’ve already had our registration process and there are no more openings."
Brownfield said the new law is ultimately a good thing because it standardizes the kindergarten cutoff and is meant to help children.
However, she said the issue lies with how it has been implemented. She believes that giving families a buffer year would have been helpful.
Ricki Yount, a preschool parent whose daughter is three days shy of the new cutoff, agreed that a buffer year to help parents with the transition would have been beneficial.
"They’re saying 'go ahead and enroll her and register her' and that we’ll be kind of on their watch list for families to reach out to figure out how to proceed once they figure out what their process is going to be," Yount, who is trying to enroll her daughter in Mariemont School District, said.
Cincinnati Public Schools is taking a different approach to help families navigate the change. The district will not be in compliance with the new law for the next two school years, which builds in buffer years for the two classes of preschoolers enrolled right now.
Vera Brooks, early childhood director with Cincinnati Public Schools, said the superintendent and Board of Education were proactive about the law change and worked to reach families ahead of time.
The district is working with families on a case-by-case basis.
"It was a sense of urgency, which I’m happy to say we were able to come up with ways to help families, so we came up with ways at looking at each individual child as their parents contacted us to say what would be best for your child and what will fit your child socially, emotionally and academically," Brooks said.
Unlike smaller, private preschools, Cincinnati Public Schools will not run out of preschool spots for incoming 3-year-old children. District officials said they always make room.
Cincinnati Public Schools is currently in open enrollment and runs a gold-star preschool program, making it a viable option even for out-of-district families who are wait-listed elsewhere.
Ultimately, education leaders recommend keeping open lines of communication with your school district to work toward a solution that best fits your child.
Are you dealing with a problem finding your child a kindergarten or preschool spot? Reach out to reporter Ally Kraemer so she can work to find you a solution.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
