Is Transitional Kindergarten Really That Hard to Fund?

It's no secret the state of California is in a financial crisis, and that one of the areas being hit the hardest is education.

For that reason, many support the idea behind SB 1381, otherwise known as the Kindergarten Readiness Act, and its subsequent mandate that all schools offer Transitional Kindergarten (TK) for children born late in the year.

However, it's hard for many school officials to support the idea for financial reasons. Some say the people of California just can't support a state mandate to start offering a new program that costs additional money that just isn't there.

Patch decided to go directly to the man: California State Sen. Joe Simitian, who authored the very bill changing the minimum age requirements so all children must turn 5 years old by Sept. 1 in order to start kindergarten that year. The act also mandates that all schools in the state offer TK for students that otherwise would have been old enough to start kindergarten, having a birthday that falls between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2.

Patch recently had a conversation with Simitian and asked for his thoughts about the fact that many school districts throughout the state say they can't afford to offer TK, to the extent that some are saying they refuse to offer it until the state provides the money to pay for it.

In a nutshell, Simitian said, those school districts are confused, and that offering TK should not cost them a penny more than it does to offer kindergarten right now.

Simitian: "The money is there"

Simitian explained that the money for kindergarten and TK is part of what is known in legislation as "Continuous Appropriations." That means, each year, the money to keep schools open is not something that is subject to a vote or a budget, but is automatically earmarked for California schools. 

"The funding is there," he said. "It is not something the Governor can remove from the budget."

Furthermore, Simitian said the school districts saying they can't afford to offer TK are confused about the idea behind the law and how it's supposed to be carried out. It's a matter of shuffling around the school's current resources, not paying for additional resources, to carry out offering TK, he said. 

By changing the law and declaring that all students must be 5 by Sept. 1 to start kindergarten, Simitian said schools will basically see their kindergarten class sizes drop.

He said a lot of how a district looks at TK depends on whether the district is "basic aid," meaning its funded through local property taxes, or "revenue-limit," which is funded by the state based on the number of students enrolled.

Simitian explained it behooves revenue-limit districts to offer TK because it replaces the amount of students lost by the district from the new age requirement with TK students, so they keep their per-student funding. 

Likewise, he said offering TK should not adversely affect a basic aid district's budget, since they're funded by property taxes and not the number of students. Simitian reiterated that it's about shuffling around a school's kindergarten resources, not paying for additional resources.

Therefore, for example, if a school currently has five kindergarten classrooms in order to serve the number of students annually enrolled in kindergarten by the old age requirement, the school might only need four classrooms. That fifth classroom could then be transformed into a TK classroom.

"There should be no additional costs, and no additional classrooms needed [for a school to offer TK]," he said. "You're still serving the same number of kids, just now a certain number of them will be in a TK classroom instead of a kindergarten classroom."

When viewed that way, it's hard to understand why so many districts are claiming they can't offer TK, he added.

"There's a lot of confusion out there," Simitian said. "School districts up and down the state should know about this by now. Any school that chooses to provide TK will be fully funded."

What about the Governor?

School district officials from across the state are biting their nails, waiting to find out just how much funding Gov. Jerry Brown is going to take away from schools as he desperately tries to balance the state budget.

Earlier this year, Simitian said the governor tried to pass a state budget that did away with TK because he wanted to keep the $700 million in statewide savings  that would be generated from refusing children under 5 from enrolling in school. That way the saved funds could be used to pay for other state needs, he said. 

Simitian said the governor's thinking was, by keeping the age requirement and making TK optional, many schools would opt out, saying they can't afford to offer TK.

Thankfully, Simitian said, the state legislature rejected Gov. Brown's proposal by a 3-1 vote.

"So, TK remains the law, and the funding is still in place," he said, adding that any school district that does not have a TK program in place come the first day of the 2012-13 school year in the fall will be in violation of state law.

Simitian said when he authored the Kindergarten Readiness Act and fought for it to be passed, that he never intended to leave California schools squandering to afford to offer something that he, in essence, made mandatory.

"That would mean parents [of children with late-year birthdays] would have to fend for themselves, and that makes me heartbroken," he said.

How is the Gilroy Unified School District faring?

A grant enabled the  to for the 2011-12 school year, but, like many other districts, school officials weren't sure whether they'd be able to continue the program the following year.

"The governor's proposal for the state budget for next year does not include funding for a transitional kindergarten program," Rebecca Wright, assistant superintendent of business services, said in January. 

However, with the state legislature rejecting Gov. Brown's proposal, Transitional Kindergarten at Gilroy schools is here to stay. 

"At this time, the district is planning on continuing the Transitional Kindergarten program – in fact we are planning to expand it to two classrooms for the 2012-13 school year," Wright said in an email Wednesday night. "This is based on our understanding that we will receive funding for these students based on the state law that was passed in 2010 which raises the age when children may start kindergarten."

For more information on the Kindergarten Readiness Act (SB 1381), visit the California Department of Education's website.

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