School districts are responsible for adopting their own local policies regarding promotion and retention. However, since children are not required by law to attend kindergarten, school districts are cautioned not to retain a child in kindergarten without consent from the child's parent or guardian. This organizational change from developmental domains under the essential elements to subject area-specificity under the TEKS still allows for an integrated developmental approach to the kindergarten curriculum. However, each school district shall administer, at the kindergarten, first and second grade levels, a reading instrument on the list adopted by the commissioner or by the district-level committee. A school district may not enroll more than 22 students in a kindergarten, first, second, third, or fourth grade class.
Policy regarding teacher aides in kindergarten is a local district decision.
Such assignments are the decision of the local district and require consent from the student's parent or guardian. A child who is five years of age on September 1 of the current school year is not eligible for enrollment in a prekindergarten class. It is the agency's position that children who reach age five on September 1 are most appropriately served in kindergarten, and that the law specifically established the prekindergarten program to serve students who have not reached age five. A district must have a policy that would allow students to accelerate out of kindergarten. Classrooms for prekindergarten, kindergarten and first grade shall have a minimum of 36 square feet per pupil or 800 square feet per room.