California is leading the country in public pre-K expansion, report finds

California's public preschool programs grew more than any other state in the 2023-24 school year, according to a new report out on the state of preschool in the U.S.

That report, produced by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, found that enrollment in transitional kindergarten — known as TK or universal TK — and the California State Preschool Program jumped by more than 35,000 children from the previous school year.

This comes as California continues to push hard toward its plan for universal TK by this fall.

"The state is getting closer each year to achieving its goal of universal preschool for 4-year-olds,” said W. Steven Barnett, the senior director of the institute that produced the report, in a statement.

The report surveyed state preschool administrators in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It found that California enrolls 48% of 4-year-olds in TK or public preschool, making it 13th in the nation by that metric. The report also found that if California continues enrolling 4-year-olds at recent rates, it could reach two-thirds enrollment in the coming years.

The state spent $15,192 per child enrolled in public pre-K last school year — up more than $500 from the year prior. That bump reflects the state's ongoing investment in TK and an increase in rates for state preschool programs, according to Bruce Fuller, a professor emeritus with UC Berkeley's School of Education.

Number of 3-year-olds in public preschool remains low

As TK expands and serves more 4-year-olds, experts say the state preschool program will need to shift to serve more younger kids. But the report found that last year, California's public preschool served just 10% of the state's 3-year-olds.

That concerns researchers who say studies show it's better for kids to attend high quality pre-K for two years rather than one.

"Attending at three and at four [years old] leads to longer lasting stronger impacts on child outcomes," said Allison Friedman-Krauss, an associate professor of education at Rutgers who co-authored the report.

Enrollment of 3-year-olds has hovered around 10% for years while the number of four-year-olds has shot up, according to the report. From the 2019-20 school year to the 2023-24 school year, the number of 3-year-olds enrolled in California public preschool dropped 1%. In that same time period, state enrollment of 4-year-olds jumped by more than 10%, according to the report.

Los Angeles Unified, California's largest school district, has more than 80 preschools for 2- to 4-year olds funded by the California State Preschool Program. But as of December 2024, those centers had thousands of vacant spots.

The director of LAUSD’s Early Childhood Education Division told LAist that the programs had been under capacity since the pandemic and the expansion of universal TK. In response, the district opened up enrollment to higher-income families.

" The problem is [3 year-olds], and that's where the scarcity is," Fuller said. "And the state just can't induce the system to pivot to threes, even though we have all these underutilized slots."

TK quality in California is lagging

As TK grows, questions remain about whether all school districts will have the teaching staff or infrastructure necessary in time.

The "State of Preschool" report also raises other concerns. It assesses the quality of public pre-K programs across the country using standards like class sizes of less than 20, 10-to-1 staff-to-child ratios and teacher training.

By these metrics, California's TK program scored just a 3 out of 10, in part for having a maximum class size of 24 4-year-olds and an average 12-to-1 student to staff ratio. Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed 2025-26 budget allocates $1.5 billion to reduce TK staff ratios to 10-to-1.

" Quality we know is critical for achieving the goals of state funded preschool," Friedman-Krauss said. "So it's important to understand that most state standards for quality remain too low."

The state's public preschool program met six out of 10 benchmarks, including for having an 8-to-1 staffing ratio.

Uncertain federal funding threatens gains

Researchers with Rutgers say disappearing pandemic funding and potential cuts or elimination of federal programs like Head Start threaten the progress made in California and other states.

According to the report, nearly 50,000 young learners could lose access to Head Start if the program is eliminated — more than the entire gain the state made in enrollment last year.

" Most state pre-K programs are built on the assumption that Head Start is there," Barnett said. " Head Start funding is key to states' abilities to accomplish what they have."