Could someon please answer this for me?

[fottafamily05]

Not really a "Disney" question persay BUT...You guys are the experts so I thought I would start here

We are moving to Florida in Aug from MD. Here are children have to turn 5 on or prior to Sept 1st to attend Kindergarten. Our youngest turns 5 on Sept 14th. My question is will she be attending kindergarten this year or next down there?

We have not found a home yet so I am really not sure of an area...however, we are looking into Celebration, Orlando, Lakeland and Windermere....we know it will be in the vicinity!


Thanks so much in advance!!!!!

 

[bas71873]

You could probably google the school districts in those areas and find out what the cut off date is. Here in VA it's Sept 30 (not that that's helpful for FL).

OK, I googled. Orange County (Orlando & Windermere) are Sept 1. Osceola county (Celebration) is also Sept 1. Lakeland is in Polk County, but I couldn't find the info on their website.

 

[fottafamily05]

Thank you! Unfortunately I am still coming up empty handed

 

[bas71873]

Thank you! Unfortunately I am still coming up empty handed

I edited my post, check it again

 

[TLinden16]

I'm going to move this to the community board.

 

[allison443]

I don't know if Florida has a state wide cutoff date, in my state it varies between towns/school districts. Some have Sept. 1, but my district has a cutoff of October 31.
If no one here knows, I would call the towns where you are looking, especially if that will factor into your decision on where to live.
Good luck with your move!

 

[diznygirl]

Sept. 1st

School districts in Florida are by county, not by town.

Good luck!

 

[jjnshane]

Florida does have a statewide Kindergarten cutoff date of age 5 by September 1. This was a law that was passed in 1979.

From the Florida DOE FAQ
"13. What are the requirements for Florida public school kindergarten admission?
Florida law (Section 1003.21(1)(a)2, Florida Statutes) specifies that children who have attained the age of five years on or before September 1 of the school year are eligible for admission to public kindergarten during that school year based on rules prescribed by the school board. Students are eligible for kindergarten attendance provided they meet the age requirement."

Once you find a home down here you might want to contact the school district (Florida School districts are separated by county, not city, so districts are quite large) and inquire about voluntary pre-kindergarten. The VPK program is quite good in most places, but it is a fairly new program and so quality varies from school to school. My daughter was in VPK at her daycare where she had been enrolled since she was an infant and by the end of the year they had the kids working on simple math addition and subtraction. The only drawback was that when she started kindergarten in public school they started all the way back at the beginning with counting and number recognition and by the end of kindergarten she was back to adding and subtracting. But not all children go into the PVK (hence the “voluntary” part of it) so when kids go into kindergarten the kindergarten teachers have to start with the basics and some kids get a year of review. As long as you work on the things that kids learned in VPK at home they won’t slide backwards. I still think VPK is one reason why my daughter, who is about to wrap up her 2nd grade year, is reading at a 5-8 grade level.

You can find more information on the Florida Department of education website (It is hard to navigate, but if you use the search option you can usually find what you are lokoing for) and you can find more information on the Florida VPK help website.

Hope this helps!

 

[fottafamily05]

Thank You Thank You Thank You everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are trying to make this transition as smooth as possible!!!! I appreciate all your greatly detailed answers!!!