Legislation sets Nevada kindergarten date to Aug. 1

A bill Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed into law will create a uniform kindergarten enrollment date with children required to be 5 years old on or before Aug. 1.

The exception to the rule, according to Nevada Department of Education Director of the Office of Early Learning and Development Patti Oya, will be 2023-24 as the bill takes effect as of July 1. For families who have children who turn 5 between Aug. 2 and their first day of school within their school district and had planned to enroll them this coming school year — by Aug. 7 for the state’s largest district, Clark County School District, according to Oya, or Aug. 14 for Carson City School District, for example — they will have a “grace period” one time this year.

“We just want to give families this summer who are counting on getting their kids in for kindergarten this year,” Oya said. “It’s a small window. The other piece is they have to have had one year of prekindergarten. In this exception window or grace period, as we’re calling it, they have to have had one year of prekindergarten, and that’s decided by the districts.”

AB65 comes into effect after 2021’s Senate Bill 201, which required a child to be 5 years old on or before Sept. 30 to be admitted at the beginning of the school year. Prior to that, Nevada law required a child to be 6 years old on or before Sept. 30 to enter the first grade and 7 years old for the second grade.

Oya said it was unknown how long SB201 had been in place calling for the Sept. 30 date, but AB65 does restore a consistency for enrollment purposes.

“It was just unintended consequences of saying the first day of school,” Oya said. “It’s confusing mostly because everybody’s all in different districts and the floating days (start dates) that happen on the calendar.”