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SDLA Compliance Resource

Collect Kindergarten Oral Health Assessment Documentation by May 31

A family-notice, documentation, waiver, access-support, and pupil-record process for the child’s first public-school year in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or—when applicable—first grade.

  • Student Health
  • Oral Health
  • Family Documentation
Date(s)No later than May 31, 2027; assessment must have occurred no earlier than 12 months before the pupil’s initial enrollment
Applies toPublic-school pupils in their first year of TK or kindergarten, or first grade if they were not previously enrolled in public-school kindergarten; the requirement is completed only once during a two-year kindergarten program

In Plain Language: Notify the parent using the standardized content, track proof of a qualifying oral health assessment or a completed waiver reason, support families facing cost or access barriers, and preserve the pupil-level result for the annual aggregate report.

Why this matters

Oral pain and untreated decay affect attendance, eating, sleep, concentration, and learning. The school’s role is to notify, support access, collect lawful documentation, and report—not to diagnose or treat.

Primary ownership

Primary owner: school nurse or designated health-services coordinator. Handoff partners: enrollment, TK/K/grade 1 staff, family liaison, attendance, records, community dental partners, district KOHA reporter, and families.

From enrollment to a closed KOHA record by May 31: the SDLA ITO workflow

A family's proof of assessment or a waiver is recorded per pupil, which feeds the district's July 1 aggregate. This SDLA ITO (Input, Transformation, Output) graphic shows how the first-year pupil list, the standardized notice, and assessment or waiver documents become the eligibility roster, the notice and documentation, and the reconciled pupil status.

SDLA ITO: eleven steps from the first-year pupil list, the standardized notice, and assessment or waiver documents, through identifying pupils, notice and support, tracking, and follow-up before May 31, to the eligibility roster, the notice and documentation, and the reconciled pupil status.
Read down each column, then move to the next: Input identifies what to collect; Transformation covers identifying pupils, notice and support, tracking, and follow-up before May 31; Output covers the eligibility roster, the notice and documentation, and the reconciled pupil status. Collect by May 31, 2027; the assessment must be no earlier than 12 months before enrollment.

Open the full-size workflow graphic

Operational workflow

  1. At enrollment, identify pupils subject to the one-time requirement and check whether a prior qualifying assessment is already documented.
  2. Give the standardized notice with required oral-health, insurance, county-health, privacy, assessment, waiver, and schoolsite opt-out information in an accessible language/mode.
  3. Track assessment proof, waiver reason, nonresponse, caries experience, and untreated decay using the current form and protected record process.
  4. Follow up before May 31, offer access referrals without coercion, and distinguish incomplete documentation from nonconsent.
  5. Freeze and reconcile the pupil-level status for the district’s July 1 aggregate report.

Implementation pathway

Identify once
Notify/support
Assessment or waiver
May 31 closeout
Aggregate reporting handoff

Evidence to retain

  • Eligibility roster and prior-completion check
  • Notice, translation, and delivery evidence
  • Assessment or waiver documentation
  • Access referrals and follow-up
  • Final pupil-status reconciliation

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current California law, CDE/CDPH instructions, local health and county procedures, pupil records, privacy requirements, and live reporting-system status before acting.