California

Overview

During the 2023-2024 school year, California’s two preschool programs together enrolled 252,826 children (Census Day enrollment), an increase of 35,847 from the prior year. State spending for the two programs totaled $3,787,165,368, with an additional $53,665,000 in federal recovery funds to support preschool, up $656,366,415 (21%), adjusted for inflation, since last year. State spending per child (including federal recovery funds) averaged $15,192 in 2023-2024, up $515 from 2022-2023, adjusted for inflation. In 2023-2024, state spending per child was $20,248 (including federal recovery funds) for the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) and $11,809 for the Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program. The CSPP met 6 of 10 quality standards benchmarks and TK met 3 of 10.

What's New

California published its Master Plan for Early Learning and Care (MPELC) in December 2020. The MPELC seeks to promote school readiness by recommending the expansion of a mixed-delivery system, increased access for three-year-olds, and universal preschool for all four-year-olds.

Beginning January 1, 2024, all California State Preschool Program (CSPP) centers and represented family child care providers received a cost of care plus rate once per month per child for children served who are enrolled in subsidized early learning and care. The new PK-3 Early Childhood Education Specialist Instruction credential, which authorizes holders to teach all subjects in self-contained and general education preschool to third grade classrooms, was approved and became effective on April 1, 2024. Serving two-year-old children is now optional for CSPP contractors between July 2, 2024, and June 30, 2027. If contractors choose to serve two-year-old children, all current requirements must be followed for children in CSPP. 

In 2023-2024, California was in the second year of ramping up its full implementation of universal TK by funding $597 million to expand eligibility for TK to all children turning five years old by April 2. School districts and charter schools can opt to enroll “early enrollment children” who turn four before September 1 but after the TK cut-off date. An additional $165 million supported reducing child to teacher ratios by adding a second adult to TK classrooms. In 2023-2024, local educational agencies (LEAs) continued to expend the $500 million in the Universal Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant funds allocated in prior budget years to support planning and implementation costs to expand access to classroom-based prekindergarten programs at LEAs. This school year, school districts and charter schools must maintain an average TK class enrollment of no more than 24 children for each schoolsite with a 1 to 12 child to teacher ratio in each classroom. Commencing with the 2025-2026 school year, TK classrooms must have an average ratio of 1 adult to 10 children. TK continued to expand by increasing the age-eligibility window until the program is fully universal for four-year-old children by 2025-2026. The California Department of Education continued to update the California Preschool Learning Foundations to reflect the prekindergarten year and incorporate research on supporting dual language learnings and children with disabilities. In July 2024, the new publication was released publicly, with a new name reflecting TK as a preschool offering: the Preschool/Transitional Kindergarten Learning Foundations.

Background

In 2008, the California State Preschool Program Act created the CSPP by consolidating several early childhood initiatives into one funding stream. CSPP provides part- and full-day preschool to 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children. In addition to meeting eligibility requirements for CSPP (now 100% SMI), families are prioritized for full-day services if they have established at least one of the following: employment/seeking employment, education or vocational training, homelessness, or parental incapacity. CSPP awards funding through a competitive application process to school districts, private and faith-based agencies, Head Start programs, higher education institutions, counties, cities, and tribal organizations. Once deemed eligible, a family is eligible to remain in full-day CSPP for at least 24 months provided the child continues to meet age-eligibility requirements. A family is eligible for part-day CSPP services for the remainder of the current program year and the following program year, provided the child continues to meet age eligibility requirements. Teachers are required to have California Child Development Associate Teacher Permits and can receive grants for professional learning. As of July 1, 2024, CSPP contractors are no longer required to use the ECERS-R to assess quality in CSPP classrooms. Instead, all CSPP contractors are required to implement the CLASS Second Edition Pre-K-3rd and CLASS Environment beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. 

California TK began during the 2012-2013 school year when the kindergarten age eligibility shifted from December 2 to September 1. In June 2015, an amendment to state law allowed children turning 5 years old after December 2 to attend TK at the beginning of the school year, at the discretion of the local educational agency. In 2023-2024, TK served children turning five between September 2 and April 2. By the 2025-2026 school year, TK will be available to all 4-year-olds in the state. TK differs from kindergarten by requiring smaller class size, adult to child ratios, and requirements for teachers to have child development/early education and/or experience. Late in 2023-24, the requirement to assess children in TK using the English Language Proficiency Assessment for California (ELPAC) was rescinded for all future academic years, and the proposed budget for 2025-26 includes $10 million to develop and implement an assessment that is developmentally appropriate for TK students. 

Beginning in the 2018-2019 school year, CSPP- and TK-enrolled children can be served in the same classroom. Classrooms consisting of commingled CSPP and TK children are intended to support student transition, allow school districts and charter schools to braid funding streams, and support the overall quality of the programs by requiring that standards from both programs are met.