The Brief

Break out the crayons and finger paint: Every 4-year-old in California is now eligible for transitional kindergarten.

Fifteen years after a handful of school districts opened the first TK classrooms, California now has the largest — and fastest growing — early education program in the country. At least 200,000 youngsters will attend TK this fall, enjoying low teacher-student ratios, age-appropriate curriculum and plenty of music, art and circle time.

“This really is something to celebrate,” said Carolyne Crolotte, policy director for Early Edge California, an advocacy group. “Now, there’s no question about who’s eligible and who isn’t. Everyone is eligible.”

TK is meant to be a bridge between preschool and kindergarten, preparing 4-year-olds for the routine and expectations of elementary school while honing their social skills and self-confidence. In TK, children learn how to make friends, write their names and do basic math. Mostly, they’re supposed to fall in love with learning.

Holding frogs and counting marshmallows

That was the case at Silverwood Elementary in Concord last week as a dozen bright-eyed 4-year-olds hovered around their teacher, Elizabeth Swanson, as she gingerly held out a tree frog for their inspection.

Several got a chance to hold the docile, turquoise amphibian.

“What does the frog feel like? What do you wonder about the frog?” said Swanson, who was recently named Mt. Diablo Unified’s Teacher of the Year. “How does he use his hands? How do you use your hands?”

But the tree frog — one of several critters in her classroom — was not the most popular attraction that afternoon. That honor belonged to the “home living” station, a corner of the classroom dedicated to costumes, dollhouses, a mini kitchen and everything else an imaginative youngster would need to play house.

Transitional kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Swanson shows a frog to children at Silverwood Elementary School in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District in Concord on Aug. 11, 2025.

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Last year, an enterprising group of students, inspired by the opening of a Dutch Bros. near the school, used the home living station to open their own coffee shop. They ordered lattes and made coffee and collected money. Swanson turned it into a math lesson by asking them to count marshmallows and decide how many should go into each cup of hot chocolate.

“One child would be the barista and one would be the customer, so they learned how to share and take turns,” Swanson said. “They were getting so much practice with social language and communication. And everything was integrated into play.”

Importance of fun

Judy Krause, executive director of early childhood programs at Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, said that’s exactly what a TK classroom should be like. The focus should be on experimentation and hands-on activities, based on students’ interests. TK, she said, is not a version of kindergarten; 4-year-olds have unique developmental needs. The main one, she said, is having fun.

If children are enjoying themselves, they’ll learn naturally, she said. If they feel overly pressured or bored, they’ll lose interest and miss out on valuable skills they’ll need for kindergarten and beyond.

“It’s a really big deal that we have this opportunity for all 4-year-olds,” Krause said. “But we have to make sure we’re doing it right.”

15-year rollout of TK

California introduced TK in 2010, and a decade later began expanding it to all districts. This year is the culmination of that effort, with all 4-year-olds now eligible and 91% of districts offering the program. The only districts that are exempt are those that don’t receive money through the state’s funding formula because they receive more money through their local property taxes.

Like kindergarten, TK is optional. But many districts, including Mt. Diablo Unified, have seen strong interest from families. A recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California predicted that about 70% of 4-year-olds will enroll in TK this fall, with waiting lists in some districts. Black, Latino and Native American students have been slightly underrepresented so far, although those not enrolled might be enrolled in other programs. The state doesn’t track that data.

Nearly everyone agrees TK is a good idea. Children who’ve attended TK tend to do better in reading and math, and those with disabilities can be identified early and receive services, research shows.

TK, which is free, can be a financial boon for families. Because of California’s high cost of living, child care and preschool costs are among the highest in the country, with families paying up to $20,000 annually — more than the cost of in-state tuition at the University of California.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has long championed TK, setting aside more than $2.7 billion in the years when the state had a budget surplus. The money is to help school districts pay teachers, keep class sizes small and provide other services to the new learners. Ongoing funds will come from the state’s Local Control Funding Formula.

“California is making a big commitment to making transitional kindergarten free and accessible to all 4-year-olds,” Newsom said in a 2023 video. “When we’re finished, California will have the largest free preschool program in the country, where every 4-year-old can start their schooling on the right track, setting them up for success further down the road.”

Teacher shortage and other challenges

But the TK rollout has had some hiccups. The chief one is finding enough qualified teachers. Because of the small class sizes and the extra qualifications required to teach 4-year-olds, there’s a shortfall of at least 12,000 TK teachers, according to Early Edge California. Last year the state introduced a new TK-through-third-grade credential and more districts are partnering with local colleges to recruit and train future teachers, which has eased the shortage somewhat.

Another obstacle has been finding classroom space. Like kindergarten classrooms, TK classrooms must contain bathrooms, which means that districts had to find money to remodel existing classrooms, or build new ones altogether. Last year’s $10 billion school construction bond has funding available for TK projects.

TK has also had an impact on preschools. Families in California have several early education options: state-funded preschools for low-income families, federal Head Start preschool for very low-income families, and private preschools. Now that 4-year-olds have a free option, existing preschools have seen an enrollment decline that, in some cases, has led schools to raise prices or even close. A recent report from UC Berkeley showed that TK expansion has led to “pre-K deserts” in some parts of the state.

Lauren Ashton plays with a child during a transitional kindergarten class at Silverwood Elementary School.

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Children walk out after a transitional kindergarten class at Silverwood Elementary School in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District in Concord on Aug. 11, 2025.

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Bruce Fuller, an education professor at UC Berkeley who’s researched TK, said it’s too early to tell who’s benefitting from the program.

“We’re seeing a shift away from preschool and toward TK, but we don’t know if TK is actually reaching new families,” Fuller said. “We might just be seeing families who would have enrolled anyway.”

Dual-language programs

A handful of districts offer dual-language TK classes, which have been popular with parents. Karina Galustians, a parent in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, enrolled her daughter Julianna last fall in an Armenian-English TK class in Los Angeles Unified’s Pinewood Early Education Center.

Galustians’ husband speaks fluent Armenian, and the couple was eager for Julianna to be able to communicate with the extended family and learn more about the culture.

“The more languages you know, the better off you are,” said Galustians, whose first language is Spanish. “To find a school where she can get those academic skills and practice her Armenian — me and my husband were beyond grateful. We hit the jackpot.”

Julianna starts kindergarten this fall at another Los Angeles Unified school, where she’ll be part of the Armenian dual language program. “We feel like she’s very well prepared,” Galustians said.

‘Everyone feels included’

Meanwhile, at Silverwood Elementary in Concord, Swanson ended the day by having students put away the blocks and plastic bugs and Eric Carle books. Then she sat with them in a circle and praised each child’s efforts and told them how excited she was to see them again tomorrow.

“David, you were super responsible today,” Swanson told an awed 4-year-old as she handed him a personalized certificate. “Lindsay, you were a good friend. Zaire, you were so respectful.”

Then it was time for the children to go meet their parents, who were waiting at the side of the playground. Swanson chatted with nearly every parent, telling them how much she enjoys their children.

“I think TK should be the same as what we want for society generally,” Swanson said. “It should be a place where everyone feels included and valued. We want everyone to be curious and non-judgmental and happy to be here.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Spain has won the FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina, bringing to a close North America's first time hosting the men's tournament in over three decades.

It is the Spanish men's team's second World Cup title, after winning their first in 2010. And for this squad, the win marked the 38th consecutive match without a loss, a run that includes their trophy in the 2024 European Championship.

They are the most dominant defensive team to win a World Cup; no champion before them had ever conceded only one goal en route to a title. And this Spain team did so with an extra game, as the new, expanded format of the tournament required its champion to play eight matches, a record.

Spain's run to the title came through a wall of top-10 opponents: first a 1-0 win over No. 5 Portugal, then a 2-1 quarterfinal win over No. 9 Belgium, then a 2-0 win in the semifinal over No. 3 France, whose attack had looked unstoppable until then. Argentina had been the world's No. 1 team; with the win, Spain has moved into the top spot.

But on Sunday, their magic ran out. Spain dominated possession all game, and its defense shut out Argentina almost completely — Argentina recorded zero shots and only two touches in Spain's box through halftime of extra time. Yet for the 90 minutes of regulation, Argentina's defense held firm, with Spain's crosses and attempts broken up by an Argentine shin or cleat or head, and goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez seemingly always in position to stop any shots that got through. (Martínez finished the game with 11 saves, the most ever recorded in a men's World Cup final.)

Then, in stoppage time came the pivotal moment, when a tackle by Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández on Spain's young star Pau Cubarsí flipped the young defender into the air and hard onto the ground. That earned Fernández his second yellow card of the game, after he received his first for dissent when he publicly disagreed with the referee.

The two yellows combined for a red card, sending Fernández off the field and forcing Argentina to play the 30 minutes of extra time with only 10 men.

After recording nearly a dozen shots on target, Spain finally broke through when forward Nico Williams took a cross into the box off his head, sending it back into the empty space in front of his teammate Ferran Torres, who knocked it in for the game's only goal.

The final day of a summer of World Cup fever in North America, the last of 104 matches in total, was a hot and sunny July day in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just outside New York City. On Sunday morning, fans — some in Messi jerseys and others draped in Spain flags — stood in line for bagels, sang on the subway and trains to the stadium, and packed into bars and watch parties, including a crowd of about 50,000 in Central Park.

At MetLife Stadium, where the get-in price for the game had reached five figures in the days leading up to the final, a crowd of 80,663 piled into the stands to watch the final. And they were treated to a World Cup first: a halftime show that lasted around 12 minutes, featuring Shakira, Burna Boy, BTS, Justin Bieber and Madonna.

The halftime show was a nod to American audiences and halftime spectacles like the Super Bowl, but it was controversial to many soccer fans: traditionally, halftime is 15 minutes. This one — between setup and music performances — lasted around 25 minutes. Sports fans have complained that it slows down the natural rhythm of the game; the more severe traditionalists say it's part of the trend to Americanize the game (along with hydration breaks, which effectively create four quarters, similar to an NFL or NBA game).

NPR's Jasmine Garsd contributed reporting
Copyright 2026 NPR

CHICAGO — For the past five weeks, a bar in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood has become one of the country's biggest World Cup watch parties, with lines stretching around the block for the biggest games.

This is all the doing of Chicago's Major League Soccer club, the Fire. By the time the final whistle is blown on the World Cup between Argentina and Spain on Sunday, an estimated 60,000 people or more will have come through at some point in the summer for a taste of World Cup fever.

This watch party and others like it around the country are one piece of Major League Soccer's efforts to capitalize on this World Cup summer here in the U.S.

Hosting the 1994 World Cup was transformative for the sport of soccer in the United States. World Cup fever led millions of children to sign up for youth leagues. Many Americans saw games aired on TV for the first time. And it led directly to the creation of Major League Soccer, as the establishment of a top-division men's professional outdoor league was a condition of awarding the U.S. the tournament.

Since then, the league has done decades of work to grow its fanbase and stature in the world of soccer. MLS kicked off in 1996 with 10 teams; last season it reached 30 teams, the same number as Major League Baseball and the NBA. In the early years, only a few dozen games were on TV each season; today, every game is televised on Apple TV.

Now, MLS hopes that 2026 can be just as transformative as 1994. The question is: how?

FOX Sports host Rob Stone (L) and MLS Commissioner Don Garber speak at the MLS "The Next Chapter" Press Conference on July 16, 2026 in New York City. With the World Cup ending, the MLS motto is: "Thanks world. We'll take it from here"

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The Costco free sample experience

The Chicago Fire had a puzzle to solve. The FIFA World Cup was coming back to the United States — and with it would come a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use the world's largest sporting event as a potent accelerant to grow its fanbase, like harnessing a cart to a rocket ship.

But Chicago would not host any games, having sat out the bidding process at the behest of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who found FIFA's demands for expensive renovations to the city's premier stadium, Soldier Field, too much to ask of city taxpayers.

"At the end of the day, this is the biggest sporting event in the world that takes place once every four years. And it's not happening in Chicago," said Dave Baldwin, the Fire's president of business operations.

"And we had a decision to make," he said. "One was to just bury our head in the sand and just watch on TV like everyone else, or the other one was to really rally behind it, put some dollars behind it."

In the end, the Chicago Fire put just under $3 million to build up the space at the bar, called Recess. It is massive, with ample space indoors and out. In the center of the patio stands what looks like a jumbotron plucked from an arena nearby and set down on a platform, with all four sides showing that day's game. Around the space are Chicago Fire decorations, sign-up sheets, contests and team merch for sale.

"I compare converting non-soccer fans to soccer fans to my experience when I go shopping at Costco, which is I never knew that I needed 800 teriyaki meatballs, but I was walking through the line, I had a chance to sample, and I said, 'Oh my gosh, this is amazing,' and I go buy one of those giant boxes," Baldwin said. "I have met very few people that come out to a match and don't want to come back."

As the MLS season kicks back into gear, 22 clubs are running a promotion called "First Match on Us" or "Next Match on Us," with free tickets for first-time attendees.

Casual sports fans view soccer differently today than they did in the 1990s, said Brian Bilello, the president of the New England Revolution, one of the teams participating in the promotion.

Bilello played a key role in bringing World Cup matches to Gillette Stadium, the home of both the Revolution and the New England Patriots. The stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, also hosted France and Brazil in a pre-World Cup tune-up friendly in March. The Revolution saw the World Cup as an opportunity to attract fans who aren't diehard soccer followers, but rather the Boston sports fan who simply had yet to try a Revs game.

"One of the most important fans that we need to grow collectively in our league is that core sports fan that also likes soccer. In 1994, I don't think those fans were open to that. They were just like, 'Ah, soccer sucks. I don't like soccer,'" said Bilello. "That doesn't really exist as much anymore."

Lionel Messi of Inter Miami CF in action during the MLS match against the New England Revolution on April 25, 2026 in Miami, Fla.

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The Messi effect

This week, Major League Soccer rolled out an ambitious, eight-figure marketing campaign called "Thanks World, We'll Take It From Here." It includes a star-studded commercial that aired during both semifinal games and will run again during Sunday's final, which is expected to be watched by tens of millions of American viewers.

The centerpiece of the ad is Lionel Messi, the 39-year-old global superstar and captain of the Argentina national team. In 2023, Messi left a wildly successful career in Europe to join the MLS club Inter Miami, a blockbuster move that has already paid dividends for the league as a whole, with attendance and viewership up since his arrival.

"There were a lot of people that thought he was coming here to retire, and it's been the opposite," said Camilo Durana, the league's chief business officer. "Rarely do you see him getting subbed off. He wants to play the 90 minutes. He's intense. He wants to win."

Messi's performance in the World Cup has been another advertisement for MLS, Durana said. Argentina will play in Sunday's final against Spain; a win would be its second consecutive title with Messi at the helm, and he's in the running to win the Golden Boot race for most goals scored in the tournament. Messi has scored eight times and is in second place behind France's Kylian Mbappé, who has 10 goals.

"What Messi's arrival did — and what this World Cup we believe will do — is it'll encourage more players to come," Durana said.

Players are the other big audience MLS is targeting with this World Cup. Even as its quality of play has improved dramatically over the years, MLS is still dogged by a reputation for being a tier or two below Europe's domestic leagues.

MLS was directly involved in the U.S. bid for this World Cup to ensure that its teams' facilities would be front and center in the hosting plan.

Each host stadium was paired with nearby soccer facilities for visiting teams to train in the days immediately preceding each game; MLS worked to ensure those venues were, as often as possible, MLS team stadiums or training centers. (Other venue training sites included Division I college soccer facilities, municipal sporting complexes and one NWSL stadium, the Kansas City Current.)

Additionally, each World Cup team chose a base camp in North America to stay and train between games. Many chose MLS facilities. That included high-profile teams like Argentina, which stayed in Kansas City to train at a Sporting Kansas City center, and Brazil, which trained at Red Bull New York's state-of-the-art Columbia Park Training Facility in New Jersey.

Argentina's team trains ahead of its World Cup round of 32 match against Cape Verde at Sporting KC Training Center in Kansas City on June 29, 2026. MLS was directly involved in the U.S. bid for this World Cup to ensure that its teams' facilities would be front and center in the hosting plan.

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The goal was to show top-flight players from around the world what life could be like in MLS.

"Players talk," said Durana. "Often, before a player is transferred, they ask around and ask people what they think. So it's really important for us that players have great experiences as they experience the World Cup."

Many American soccer fans still prefer watching higher-tier European leagues like the English Premier League or Germany's Bundesliga. But improving the quality of players in MLS could lead to higher-quality competition — which then would draw more fans, MLS hopes.

"Major League Soccer players scored 10 goals in the group stage, and so I think that validates everything that we're doing, and it shows the quality that we have on the MLS pitch," Durana said.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The city of Long Beach plans to dip into its emergency reserves to balance its books this year as lagging tax revenue and rising expenses worsen its financial position ahead of the budget’s close on Sept. 30.

The city says it will pull $27 million from a total of four reserve accounts, exhausting its operating reserves and taking out $16.5 million from its $50.1 million emergency reserve — money set aside specifically for natural disasters and unforeseen crises.

The city last tapped that reserve during fiscal years 2020 and 2021, as officials awaited COVID-19 federal relief money while stay-at-home orders shuttered businesses and forced the city into furloughs.

While not in the midst of a natural disaster, city administrators say Long Beach’s financial picture demands the use of these funds. “I don’t think it’s a secret that we have been hit pretty hard by the economic conditions that are out there,” City Manager Tom Modica said in an interview Wednesday.

City revenues are projected to come in about $21 million below expectations this year, while expenses are set to run $20.8 million over. The city’s utility tax alone is down nearly $14.7 million as residents use less electricity and gas. Airport revenue has stayed flat even as passenger traffic at Long Beach Airport fell 11%, its second straight yearly decline. And Measure LB, a tax on power plants that voters approved in 2024, has fallen well short of projections, prompting the city auditor to request documents and open a review, Modica said.

Interest earnings have also slipped as low rates and heavy infrastructure spending leave less cash to invest, said city Financial Management Director Kevin Riper.

The city’s Health Department, meanwhile, needs an $11 million bailout from the city’s general fund after losing about $18 million in federal grant funding — its second consecutive deficit as stagnant state money fails to keep pace with rising costs in its $254 million budget.

Adding to the strain: Labor agreements with city unions have layered on $38.3 million in new structural costs over three years, insurance costs are booming, and a hiring push that cut the police vacancy rate from 26% to 13% and lowered firefighter vacancies to 3.2% means the city is now paying salaries it had budgeted to save on through unfilled positions — a $10.6 million underestimate in the citywide activities budget.

City departments began cutting costs last fall in anticipation of the gap when Modica asked them to find 3% savings through hiring delays and paused capital projects. Most hit between 2% and 7%, though Economic Development and the Health Department both ran about 11% over budget.

The Police Department cut the most of any department — nearly $11 million — by trimming overtime, deferring its next recruit academy to the next fiscal year, freezing professional-staff hiring and scaling back non-critical purchases.

The city also found $16 million in savings by leasing or financing new vehicles instead of buying them outright, though Riper cautioned the move is effectively irreversible without the city eventually having to “double collect” to rebuild cash for future fleet purchases.

Despite those steps, they weren’t enough to close the gap without dipping into reserves for the second year running.

The city now heads into its next budget cycle with its reserves at their lowest level in years and little cushion to absorb another bad year. Modica is set to unveil a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget on July 30 that he says will require “very difficult changes” for both residents and city staff, though he has offered few specifics beyond warning that service reductions are coming.

“My goal with the Proposed Budget, which will include very difficult changes for both the community and our organization, will be to outline a path to fiscal sustainability and create a plan to replenish our reserves,” Modica wrote in an email to city staff this week.

The city has pledged to prioritize rebuilding the emergency reserve as part of that process — but with revenues still soft and costs still climbing, officials have offered no guarantee the city won’t be back in the same position next year.

Municipalities across the region, including Santa Ana, Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange and Riverside County, have faced similar pressures to draw on reserves, blaming culprits like soft sales and hotel tax revenues, rising pension and labor costs, and federal and state aid that has either flattened or rescinded.

The city of Los Angeles pulled $358 million from its general fund reserves last year, and San Diego has repeatedly drawn down its savings, a trend officials there expect to continue.

After Modica presents his budget and the mayor recommends his changes, the Long Beach City Council must discuss, adjust and approve it by the end of September.

To understand how the World Cup went in Los Angeles this summer, look no further than the watch parties.

The city of L.A.'s events — branded "Kick it in the Park" — were neighborhood picnics. People could turn up, put up a camping chair, and watch the game in a local park.

In total, the city reports that at least 35,000 people attended them over the past month. Crowds packed Sycamore Grove Park to see Mexico take down Ecuador on a massive screen. At Echo Park Lake, people watched Lionel Messi score a hat trick in Argentina's opening match.

FIFA's official "fan zones" told another story. They were ticketed, fenced off and sometimes expensive. The one on Venice Beach had some locals in an uproar after organizers promised a free block party and under-delivered.

At another fan zone at the Original Farmer's Market, tickets were cheap but once inside, attendees were left to watch the matches from a hot parking lot. If you wanted a beer, the designated drinking area didn't have a clear view of the screens.

After 39 days of soccer, eight matches at SoFi Stadium and many more events big and small across the region, reviews of the tournament have broadly been positive.

People flocked to bars and public viewing parties. Angelenos wore green with pride to root for Mexico. New fans were, at least temporarily, won over by the beautiful game.

But FIFA, with its high ticket prices to get inside the stadium and branded events, had more mixed reviews, and faced protests, too. Some wondered what their community was getting out of all the hubbub.

A group gathered in Downtown Los Angeles last week to protest FIFA and 2026 World Cup corporate sponsors.

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This balance — enjoying the soccer, but being weary of what comes with it — was a throughline throughout the tournament. So was the sentiment that the World Cup was merely a warm-up lap for the coming 2028 summer Olympics.

" [It's] a tremendous opportunity for us to learn and practice for the '28 Games," said Paul Krekorian, the former L.A. City Council president who leads the city's major events office.

One example of this was public transit. Metro launched a special bus system specifically to take people to and from SoFi Stadium, and it delivered tens of thousands of people there each match. An even larger bus fleet will be needed for the Olympics, which event organizers compare to hosting seven Super Bowls a day for a month.

"The reason we were excited to take on an event like the World Cup before the Super Bowl and the 2028 Games in the first place is because this is where you get the true teaching moments," Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins wrote in a blog post about the World Cup success.

Metro unveiled its enhanced services during the 2026 World Cup on March 4.

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Other moments during the tournament hinted at the ways mega-events can go south.

A free city watch party for the Korea-Mexico match at Seoul Park was overcrowded and chaotic when thousands more people showed up than organizers expected.

The Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights broke out in flames during the World Cup, spewing thick smoke across swaths of the city and surrounding areas. The bad air didn't force FIFA to change plans at SoFi Stadium, but had things gone differently, it could have.

Crowds packed a block party near Mariachi Plaza to watch Mexico defeat South Korea one day after the fire sparked.

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And a community event in South L.A. was disrupted when someone flew a drone to take photos and the FBI, Homeland Security and LAPD descended to enforce a strict World Cup anti-drone policy. The nonprofit involved called it an unintended consequence of having high-security sporting events in Los Angeles.

All those issues — crowds, fires and security — will undoubtedly come up again in the lead-up to 2028. They also mean some people will be happy to bid the 2026 World Cup farewell.

Still, many will miss the tournament in Los Angeles, which brought thousands of us out to public spaces to be together. Many of L.A.'s communities got to celebrate their heritage. And everyone could participate. You could strike up conversation simply by wearing your team's jersey while out and about.

That collective, temporary madness is over now. But it was fun while it lasted.