State Board of Education regulations allow parents/guardians to submit a one year level of maturity Kindergarten Waver Request (English) & Kindergarten Waver Request (Spanish) for a kindergarten age child if the parents believe that a delay in kindergarten attendance is in the best interest of their child. Such a child, however, must attend kindergarten the next year. Kindergarten aged students cannot attend public prekindergarten.  This includes kindergarten aged students with a kindergarten waiver on file. 

Children must be five years old by September 1 to enroll in kindergarten. 

The mandatory kindergarten attendance regulations permit age eligible kindergarten children who are not attending a public or a nonpublic kindergarten to be enrolled in either an alternative program setting or supervised home instruction.

     Alternative Program Setting:

• Full time in a licensed child care center
• Full time in a registered family day care home; or
• Alternative Kindergarten Form

       Supervised Home Instruction:

• Parents/guardians who home school their children must register with their local school system in order to be in compliance with home schooling regulations.
• Parents of students who attend Alternative Settings must register their child with Anne Arundel County Public Schools prior to the opening of school.
• Send the letter to the Office of Early Childhood and School Readiness, 2644 Riva Road, Annapolis, Maryland 21401

The mandatory kindergarten attendance law, which went into effect in Maryland on July 1, 1992, establishes two requirements: a. The minimum age of compulsory school attendance is lowered to five years of age; and -- b. Children are required to attend kindergarten before entering first grade.