SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. — A growing number of families are opting out of kindergarten at public schools for their young learners.

Distant learning has been a turn off for many parents, including Sherman Oaks mom Julie Picot.

What You Need To Know

  • A growing number of families are opting out of kindergarten at public schools for their young learners.

  • Kindergarten enrollment at Los Angeles Unified School District has already been on a decline in recent years

  • Enrollment dropped by nearly 6,000 students from last year to this year

  • Kindergarten is not mandatory in California

“When it went to online learning…that took even more of the interpersonal interactions away and just knowing my daughter, both my daughters, they were not going to enjoy that,” Picot said. “It’s about learning to love to learn not being forced to learn that I want her to take from school, especially during Kindergarten.”

Picot had been deciding between sending her daughter Jasmine to her local LAUSD public school, or homeschooling before the pandemic. Now she teaches her daughter every day at home or at a park using a curriculum she found online.  

Kindergarten enrollment at Los Angeles Unified School District has already been on a decline in recent years, yet enrollment dropped by nearly 6,000 students from last year to this year.

Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a recent address that the kindergarten enrollment decline is a combination of many factors—including not enough support at home to help kids with virtual learning, families leaving the area, and kids remaining in existing childcare until campuses reopen.

Picot knows not every family has the option to home school. She is thankful to be able to do it.
 
“Online learning has its place right now. It has to have its place right now and every single family is different, every single child is different so I think each parent has to find their way,” Picot said. “But given the choice, because I have that choice, I want to reduce screen time for my children.”

Related Stories

She’ll consider a public charter school in the future. But for now, the park will remain Jasmine’s classroom.

Kindergarten is not mandatory in California. Many early childhood education experts believe attending help better prepare students for school.

Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park)  introduced an education bill back in February that would require kindergarten attendance as a requirement prior to entering the first grade with some exemptions.