My son has his 5th birthday late in the year. So he qualified for public kindergarten, which has a Dec. 31 cut off, but he didn’t qualify for private kindergarten, which has an August 31 cut off. Currently he’s in public kindergarten. If we apply him to private school next year, will they make him repeat kindergarten? How strict are private schools about children with late birthdays?

When you apply, tell the private schools that he is currently in public school kindergarten.  Let them know that you are applying him to their kindergarten program, given their birthday cut off, but that you are open to putting him in first grade if they think that is the best placement.  Most likely, they would only accept him to kindergarten so he would be in the same age range as his peers in the program, but there is a slight chance that a school would allow him to go to first grade if his abilities warranted that and a space opened up in first grade.  If they accept your child, they will likely talk with you about what they feel is the best placement given the rigors of their program and the ages of the other children in the grade.