A proposed money-saver for the state could have an effect on the youngest students in the Los Banos Unified School District.</p><p>Gov. Jerry Brown proposed permanently axing funds for transitional kindergarten in his latest budget, which would save $223.7 million in 2012-13 and $672 million when the program is in full gear in 2014-15. </p><p>Superintendent Steve Tietjen said the proposal is based strictly on saving money, and keeps children who need transitional kindergarten out of the classroom. </p><p>He said as many as 85 students born before November would be left out.</p><p>"No one's arguing that there needs to be a program like this for kids," Tietjen said.</p><p>The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 provides for transitional education for 4-year-olds born in the fall and moves up the kindergarten eligibility date gradually from Dec. 2 to Nov. 1 in 2012, to Oct. 1 in 2013 and to Sept. 1 in 2014. This means children will have to turn 5 by Sept. 1 to enter kindergarten in 2014.</p><p>Under Brown's plan, the state would save money because the kindergarten cutoff date would continue to creep up while the funding is cut, leaving fewer students in the classrooms.</p><p>Tietjen said students who need the extra year of school are the ones left in the cold.</p><p>"The ones hurt by it are the ones not learning English skills at home," Tietjen said.</p><p>Margie Terranova, the district's coordinator of early childhood education, said the district's committee to plan for transitional kindergarten is in limbo while it waits for the governor's final budget in July. </p><p>"We don't want to be unprepared, but we don't want to spend all our time on something that's not going to happen," Terranova said, adding that planning has slowed.</p><p>The largest concern, Terranova said, is the children who age out of preschool but are not old enough for kindergarten.</p><p>"Those children are left with no opportunity for education," Terranova said.</p><p>Enterprise reporter Thaddeus Miller can be reached at (209) 388-6562 or by email at </p><p>tmiller@losbanos</p><p>enterprise.com.