This school year the California transitional kindergarten program began expanding to eventually include all 4-year-olds. But amidst a teacher shortage, some school districts had to move teachers already on staff or lure staff away from preschool programs.
Students make their way to class for the first day of school at Tustin Ranch Elementary School in Tustin on Aug. 12, 2021.a $2.7 billion initiative to expand transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds. The state gave school districts only 13 months to prepare for the first wave of the expansion, which began this school year.. School districts had to make plans for implementing the new grade, hire teachers and aides and find classrooms for the new students.
“TK is a great opportunity for students and beneficial for families as well, but the rollout is so fast that I don’t know that we have all the staffing and workforce available to meet the needs,” said Noemy Salas, senior director of Early Childhood Education Programs for the Chula Vista Elementary School District, in San Diego County. “All of the districts are hiring. We are competing for the same teachers and that is a concern.
“We can completely see and understand they are feeling the pressure. They are dealing with multiple factors and trying to find staff and prepping classrooms for preschool-age children,” said Neville-Morgan, who leads the“It goes back to seizing the moment. This was California’s moment to transform education.”
The expansion was bold but the execution has been arduous, said Bruce Fuller, professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley who also heads the Children’s Forum, which researches education issues in the state.
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