Indiana's kindergarten age will change in 2019. Here's what that means for your child.

Indiana is changing its kindergarten eligibility rules, meaning kids could enter kindergarten before their fifth birthday. 

The change was written into the state budget, moving back the eligibility date one month each of the next two years. Beginning in the 2019-20 school year, kids who turn 5 on or before Sept. 1 of the school year will be eligible to start kindergarten.

In the 2020-21 school year, the eligibility date moves back to Oct. 1. 

The current eligibility cutoff date is Aug. 1, effectively allowing parents with children who fall into those new eligibility windows to choose if they'd like to send their kids to kindergarten a year earlier. Because Indiana's compulsory school age is 7, the change does not require parents to send their kids earlier — or to kindergarten at all. 

It's also subject to discretion of local school districts. While the state will now cover the cost of educating these kids, it does not require districts to provide kindergarten services to kids until they are 5. Many school districts have already been allowing kids to enter kindergarten at 4 years old, according to the Indiana Department of Education. 

For Indianapolis parents who do want to take advantage of the new window, the best chance to get a seat is by enrolling now. While 60 percent of kindergarten and pre-kindergarten seats at choice schools were awarded in the first enrollment window, 40 percent are still up for grabs.

The second Enroll Indy window closes Tuesday (April 30) at 11 p.m. After that, any open seats in choice programs will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis and some schools and programs are likely to be full. All eligible kids will be guaranteed a seat at their boundary school.

Some teachers have raised concerns about whether 4-year-old kids will be developmentally ready for kindergarten, but the move was something that the Indiana Department of Education made one of its legislative priorities for the year. 

Some schools had been sending students as young as 4 to kindergarten and then having them repeat the grade as a way to get the state to pay for what was essentially a pre-kindergarten year. Lawmakers closed that loophole last legislative session. 

The Aug. 1 deadline, though, was excluding those kids whose birthdays were near the cut-off date and ready to start school, said Jennifer McCormick, state superintendent of public instruction. McCormick said that some schools were still taking kids who weren't of age by the deadline but were ready for school, meaning the district was receiving no state money for that child. 

When McCormick announced the department's legislative priorities last fall, she was asking for a Nov. 1 cut-off date but said she wouldn't push back if lawmakers landed on an October date. 

"The point is move it back ... to capture more kids who are clearly ready," she said. "It will still be a parent's decision.

"We have a lot of schools taking those kids, because it's right, and not receiving a dime." 

Lawmakers did expand the state's pre-kindergarten pilot program, designed for 4-year-olds, to more counties this year but did not appropriate any more money for it.

Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at (317) 201-5620 or email her at Arika.Herron@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.