The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday approved a bill that would require students to attend kindergarten or show the ability to do the work to advance to first grade.
The bill passed the chamber 87-12. It moves to the Senate.
House Bill 43, sponsored by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, would drop the mandatory age of school enrollment for a child from 6 to 5.
Warren called the legislation a “first grade readiness bill,” and it would not require parents to enroll their children in kindergarten. She said parents can homeschool or send children to private or religious schools to get them to that level.