West Jordan » Before his teacher finished explaining a reading lesson Tuesday, kindergartner Jaydon Arslanian read the word "fox" aloud.

"Jaydon, you read it before I put it up!" Christina Stout, a student teacher in the kindergarten class, said with a smile.

Jaydon, who turned 6 in November, is one of the older students in his class at Hayden Peak Elementary School. Freshman Rep. Laura Black, D-Sandy, believes older students such as Jaydon enjoy developmental advantages over their younger peers. That's why Black is sponsoring a bill this session that would require children to be older before starting kindergarten.

Now, Utah children must be 5 years old before Sept. 2 to start kindergarten. Black's bill would move the deadline to July 1. If the bill passes, the new dates would go into effect July 1, 2010.

"It doesn't sound like very much when you're an adult, but two months in the life of a child can be huge in terms of what their development is," Black said.

Jaydon's teacher, Pat Drake, who originally brought the issue to Black, said the change would make a big difference for year-round schools like Hayden Peak. Because Hayden Peak starts classes in July, some of Drake's students were only 4 when they began kindergarten.

Drake said every child is different, but some of those younger students are still struggling.

"When they come in so young, they have a hard time focusing," Drake said. "They have a hard time sitting still and listening. There is a huge gap in what these children can handle in the classroom setting."

Not everyone would support such a change. Delaying entry to kindergarten, some experts say, might do more harm than good, especially for parents who can't afford to stay home with their children or send them to preschool.

"We have 570 preschoolers in poverty on our waiting list," said Erin Trendeath-Murray, director of a Head Start chapter in Salt Lake City. "We don't have universal preschool in this state, so they don't have a lot of options and will likely enter kindergarten well behind their peers. I'm not sure how they would benefit from more time."

Black's bill would move the deadline by a mere two months, but for some families that would mean another full year of shelling out for preschool.

That's "a real burden in today's economic climate," even for working middle-class families who, on average, spend more on pre-K than they do college, said Janis Dubno, a senior policy analyst at Voices for Utah Children. The average price for a year of child care: $6,768 for an infant and $5,400 for a 4-year-old, according to data from the Utah Child Care Resource and Referral Network.

Some experts say states should focus on school readiness, not child readiness.

"Children develop unevenly. No matter where you set the deadline, you're going to have a span of those who just turned 5 and those who have been 5 for nearly a year," said Jerlean Daniel, deputy executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Still, changing the dates would at least ensure, for year-round schools, that children are 5 when they start, said Kathy Wittke, a Jordan School District elementary literacy consultant.

"Obviously, no matter where you put your deadline, you're going to have your oldest and your youngest, but by at least being 5 there's a maturity that just kind of happens as children get older," Wittke said.

Already, some parents hold 5-year-olds back a year because they feel they're not yet ready for kindergarten or want to give them an advantage when they start school. Under Utah law, parents have the option to hold children back, but there isn't much flexibility for parents seeking to enroll early.

Entrance age cutoff dates for kindergarten vary from state to state, but Sept. 1 is the most common.

Jaydon's mother, Jamee Arslanian, said she's glad her son is one of the older students in his class, and she would support changing the cutoff date.

"Some of these kids, I don't think they're as prepared for kindergarten as they should be, and I think it makes it hard for kids who are extremely prepared," Arslanian said.

Lee Ann Smith, a Park City mother of three, said parents often push school too early on their children, wanting to "give them every possible advantage."

Smith held one of her boys back, whereas her other son started school early. She said the most important thing is to give parents options.

"It was absolutely the right thing for both of them," said Smith. "It's important for parents to have the option to choose."