If your child is happy in preschool, a free TK place can still be a hard choice. We’d start by visiting the TK room and setting your real drop-off and pickup in the workday planner.
Is TK the same as pre-K in California?
No. When someone says “pre-K”, ask which program they mean: it changes where you apply and what you pay.
In California, “pre-K” isn’t the name of any one program. TK is one program, and pre-K is the year it can fill.
The name comes from TK’s first job. A 2010 state law, SB 1381, moved the kindergarten birthday cutoff earlier, and TK was created for the children who lost their kindergarten place: a “transitional” year before it. The law still calls TK “the first year of a two-year kindergarten program” (Ed. Code § 48000). A 4-year-old in TK and one in a preschool’s 4s room are the same age. What the “kindergarten” in the name brings is a public school’s rules: its own birthday cutoff, teacher rules, school hours and state money.
Here are the names you’re likely to see on a flyer or an application.
- TKTransitional kindergarten
- Free
- California’s free public program for children who turn 4 by September 1. You apply through your school district. The name tells you the cost: no tuition.
- CSPPCalifornia State Preschool Program
- Free part-day if you qualify
- State-funded preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds who qualify by income or another route. You apply to a local provider, often a district or a nonprofit. Part-day is free. Full-day may carry a small fee.
- Head Start
- Free if you qualify
- Federally funded preschool with health and family support. It is mostly for families at or below the poverty line or in another qualifying group. You apply to the local program, and it is free if you qualify.
- UPKUniversal PreKindergarten
- Depends on the program
- California’s umbrella for early learning. It covers TK, state preschool, Head Start, community preschools, special-education services, expanded learning and private pay preschool. “UPK” alone doesn’t tell you the program or the price.
- PK3 and PK4
- Set by the provider
- A provider’s names for two separate years: a class of 3-year-olds and a class of 4-year-olds. You apply to that provider. The name says nothing about cost.
- “TK” at a private school
- Tuition
- Some private schools call their oldest preschool class “TK.” It is the school’s own class, with its own tuition. It is not California’s public program.
- Pre-TK or early TK
- Set by the provider
- A name some providers and districts give their own class for children too young for TK. It is not state TK. A child who turns 4 after September 1 can’t enroll in TK that year.
UPK is the one that trips people up. CDE’s own FAQ puts private pay preschool inside the umbrella, so a “UPK” program may still charge tuition.
What age does preschool start, and which programs can we get?
Your child’s birthday decides TK; your family’s situation decides most of the rest.
A 4-year-old in California has five routes. One depends on a birthday, two on income or another qualifying route, one on a disability, and one on what you can pay.
TK is the strict one. A child must turn 4 by September 1 of the school year, so September 1, 2027, for the 2027–28 year. CDE says plainly that “students who turn four after September 1 are not eligible for enrollment in a TK program.” Kindergarten has a little more give. A child who turns 5 by September 1 can start. A district may also admit a child later in the year, case by case, once they have turned 5. That exception belongs to kindergarten only.
Preschool can start younger. Some private centers take 2-year-olds. State preschool may take new 2-year-olds until June 30, 2027, and those already enrolled can stay. Special-education preschool starts at 3. Our age-cutoff guide walks through each birthday rule.
The options, in plain English
TK. Free for every child who meets the birthday cutoff, with no income test. You enroll through your school district, which places your child at one of its campuses, or apply to a charter school that offers TK.
State preschool (CSPP). For 3- and 4-year-olds. The standard income line is $11,337 a month ($136,044 a year) for a family of four in 2026–27. A program can fill up to 10% of its places with families earning up to $13,038 a month, once eligible families are served (CDE, MB 26-03). Cash aid, homelessness or protective services also qualify a child, and so does a household member on Medi-Cal, CalFresh or WIC. A child with an IEP can qualify on that alone (Ed. Code § 8208). With TK now open to every child who turns 4 by September 1, CDE says state preschools may have more room for 3-year-olds. We can’t put a statewide number on open places, so call the site you want.
Head Start. For families at or below the poverty line. Children in foster care, children who are homeless and families on public assistance qualify at any income. A program may also fill up to 35% of its places with families earning below 130% of the poverty line, as long as it serves eligible families first, and up to 10% with other families (45 CFR 1302.12). Being eligible isn’t a seat, because programs keep ranked waiting lists. Many Head Start rooms are run by nonprofits, so the district office may not be the place to ask.
Head Start money comes from Washington, and it can wobble. During the federal shutdown in fall 2025, the National Head Start Association warned that 140 programs serving about 65,000 children would be without federal money by November 1 unless Congress acted. Six were already running on local emergency funds. If your family will rely on a Head Start seat, ask the program about its backup plan.
Special-education preschool. A child with a qualifying disability can get free public preschool services from age 3, with no income test (Ed. Code § 56001). Call your district’s special education office and ask for an evaluation.
Private preschool sets its own ages, price and hours.
How does TK compare to preschool across a whole workday?
Price the hours TK doesn’t cover before you call it free.
At a school district, a TK day must be at least 3 hours, and it generally can’t run past 4 hours of class plus recess unless the district runs a longer “early primary” program (Ed. Code §§ 46117, 46111). Charter schools have no daily minimum, only a yearly one (CDE). Set your own drop-off and pickup below.
Which option covers your workday?
Six plans on the same workday. These are the rules, not your school’s schedule, so check its bell times.
TK + ELO-P · 8:00 am to 5:30 pm. Left for you 30 min or less of your 9 h 30 min day. 9 h in all: 3 h of TK class plus at least 6 h of ELO-P care.
Pick a plan to see how it adds up.
Required by rule, a minimum. Up to the district or program. Ask. Left for you to cover.
With TK
- TK + ELO-PTK children, if the district runs ELO-P. Free; ELO-P fee may apply.30 min or less left
Left for you: 30 min or less of your 9 h 30 min day.
9 h in all: 3 h of TK class plus at least 6 h of ELO-P care.
- TK + paid after-careAny child who turns 4 by Sept 1. TK is free; the care sets its own price.Nothing left if hours match
- TK aloneAny child who turns 4 by Sept 1. Free.About 3 h 30 min left
Instead of TK
- State preschoolQualify by income or another way. Free for many; fee capped at 1% of income.Nothing left if hours match
- Head StartMostly at or below the poverty line. Free.Nothing left if hours match
- Private centerAnyone who can pay. About $1,087–$1,735 a month (LA, SF; 2021 survey).Nothing left if hours match
Each bar is your day, from drop-off to pickup. It shows lengths, not times of day: the rules set how long a program runs, not when it starts, so check its hours and your school’s bell schedule.
See every option’s rules and sources as a table
| Option | The day | The year | Adults | Who can go | Cost | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TK school day | At a school district: at least 3 hours a day, recess included. The cap is 4 hours of class plus recess, unless the district runs an early primary (full-day) program. PPIC puts those at four to six hours. Charter schools have no daily minimum. Either way, TK needs 36,000 minutes a year, about 3 h 20 min a day on a 180-day calendar (our arithmetic). | At least 180 school days at a district (163 on a multitrack year-round calendar; 175 at a charter school). | At least 1 adult per 10 children and classes averaging 24 or fewer. Both are averages across the school, so one room can run larger. | Turns 4 by September 1 of the school year. No income test. | No tuition. | Ed. Code § 46117; Ed. Code § 46111; Ed. Code § 8973; Ed. Code § 48000; CDE TK fiscal FAQ; PPIC, California’s TK expansion |
| TK + ELO-P | The TK day, then before- and after-school care to reach at least 9 hours a school day in total (8 at frontier sites in the most rural areas), if your district runs ELO-P and has a place. | The 180 school days, plus at least 30 non-school days of 9 hours (8 at frontier sites), if the district runs ELO-P. | At least 1 adult per 10 TK and kindergarten children in ELO-P. Your child will often change rooms and adults between class and ELO-P. | Enrolled in TK, in a district that runs ELO-P. Districts can opt out each year. Who must be offered a place depends on the district’s share of low-income, English-learner and foster students. | TK is free. ELO-P may charge a family fee based on income. It can’t charge foster or homeless children, or children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Price a full year in our cost guide. | CDE ELO-P FAQ; Ed. Code § 46120 |
| State preschool, part-day | At least 3 hours a day. Ask the provider for its exact hours. | At least 175 days a year, unless the provider’s state contract sets fewer. | The Education Code sets 1 adult per 8 children and 1 teacher per 24, ages 3 to 6, until state regulations replace it. | Ages 3 and 4. Providers may also enroll 2-year-olds until June 30, 2027. Families qualify by income or another way. The current income line is $11,337 a month for a family of four (CDE bulletin MB 26-03). Once eligible families are served, up to 10% of places can go to families earning up to 15% more. Other ways to qualify: cash aid, homelessness, protective services, a household member on Medi-Cal, CalFresh or WIC, or a child with an IEP (a special-education plan). Qualifying does not promise a seat. | No family fee. | Ed. Code § 8207; Ed. Code § 8208; Ed. Code § 8241; CDE CSPP income bulletin MB 26-03; CDE CSPP two-year-old bulletin MB 25-03; CDE CSPP fee bulletin MB 26-04 |
| State preschool, full-day | No daily minimum in the statute. The provider sets the hours, which can cover a full workday. | At least 246 days a year, unless the provider’s state contract sets fewer. | The Education Code sets 1 adult per 8 children and 1 teacher per 24, ages 3 to 6, until state regulations replace it. | Same as part-day, and usually a documented need for care, such as work or school. Some families are exempt from the need rule. | Free below 75% of state median income or on CalWORKs. Children in protective services can be excused from the fee for up to 12 months under their service plan. Other families pay a fee capped at 1% of monthly income. Price a full year in our cost guide. | Ed. Code § 8207; Ed. Code § 8241; CDE CSPP fee bulletin MB 26-04 |
| Head Start | At least 3 hours 30 minutes a day. At least 45% of a program’s center seats get 1,020 hours a year, about 5 h 40 min a day over 180 days (our arithmetic). Longer days are up to the program. | At least 160 days on a five-day week (128 on a four-day week). | In a class of mostly 4- and 5-year-olds, no more than 20 children with 2 adults. That is at least 1 adult per 10 children in every class (our arithmetic). | Ages 3 to 5. Families qualify with income at or below the poverty line, or at any income with public assistance, foster care or homelessness. Once eligible families are served, a program may fill up to 35% of places with families below 130% of the poverty line, and up to 10% with others. Qualifying does not promise a seat. | Free. Head Start may not charge eligible families a fee for Head Start itself. A program can charge for extra care before or after its funded hours. | 45 CFR 1302.21; 45 CFR 1302.12; 45 CFR 1302.14; 45 CFR 1302.18 |
| Private licensed center | No hours rule. The center sets its hours and closures. | No calendar rule. The center sets its calendar. | At least 1 teacher per 12 children, or 1 teacher and 1 aide per 15 (per 18 with a fully qualified teacher), counted room by room. At nap time, one teacher may watch 24 sleeping children if the other teachers needed for the ratio are immediately available. | The center’s own age rules. No income test. | Tuition set by the center. In the state’s 2021 survey, the middle full-time price for a preschool-age child in a licensed center was $1,735 a month in San Francisco County and $1,087 in Los Angeles County. Price a full year in our cost guide. | Title 22 § 101216.3; Title 22 § 101230; 2021 Regional Market Rate county workbook (CDSS) |
At the default 8:00 to 5:30 day, only three public routes come close, and each rests on someone else’s decision. One is TK plus the district’s Expanded Learning Opportunities Program, or ELO-P. A district that runs it must offer at least nine hours on a school day, counting class time, or eight at sites in the most rural “frontier” areas (CDE ELO-P FAQ; Ed. Code § 46120). That still leaves half an hour of a 9 h 30 min day, unless your district runs longer. The others are full-day state preschool, whose statute sets no daily hours, and Head Start, whose rules set only a minimum. In both, the program sets the day, so ask for its real hours.
“Full-day” TK is common now, but it’s shorter than a workday. In a CDE survey PPIC cites, 84% of districts, charters and county offices were adding full-day options, meaning over four hours. PPIC puts full-day at four to six hours, and there’s no statewide end time.
Count the adults too. A TK child who starts in early care, moves to class and ends in ELO-P can meet three rooms before dinner. “How many adults will my child hand off to in one day?” We’d weigh the answer more than the ratio.
What is a TK classroom really like?
A good TK room and a good preschool room look a lot alike, so a normal morning tells you more than the label.
A TK morning
TK is supposed to be play now, by statute. Since July 9, 2026, the Education Code has described TK as “a strengths- and play-based approach to joyful, engaged learning” (Ed. Code § 48000(d)(1), as amended by AB 126). Before that, it said “a modified kindergarten curriculum.” A law that changes on a Thursday doesn’t change a classroom by Friday, though. We found no funding penalty tied to the play rule, unlike the ratio rules. A room that ran on worksheets last spring may take a while to change.
In the rooms that got there early, the play is busy and deliberate. “Yes, they’re playing all day, but it’s very intentional play,” Lauren Bush, a TK teacher in Lawndale, told LAist. In Concord, Elizabeth Swanson’s class turned its play corner into a coffee shop after a Dutch Bros. opened nearby. “One child would be the barista and one would be the customer, so they learned how to share and take turns,” she told CalMatters.
Not every room is there yet. “What we’re seeing in a lot of classrooms is very highly academic, not developmentally appropriate,” Bernadette Zermeño told EdSource in early 2026. She designs curriculum at Great First Eight.
Rest and toileting vary by district. We found no state rule requiring rest time in TK. Bush added a nap to her six-hour day. As she told LAist, “It’s a lot of stimulation for a lot of hours for their little bodies.” A district can’t refuse a child who isn’t toilet trained (CDE). What happens after an accident is largely up to the district. “We do not wipe,” Shawna Adam, a TK teacher in Hacienda La Puente Unified, told EdSource. In the same story, an Oakland teacher said the second aide that came with the 1:10 ratio meant someone could help.
A preschool morning
Licensed private centers follow Title 22 rules. They must offer daily play, rest, meals and toileting. They need a cot or mat for every child under 5, except in half-day programs (22 CCR § 101230). Their pitch is often fewer children per adult. “An adult:child ratio of 1:3 supports PreK children in their learning,” writes Calla Trofatter of the Cupertino Co-Op Nursery School. That’s a parent co-op describing itself, and a co-op isn’t a typical center.
Where they overlap
The study of TK’s first classrooms found less “push-down” than people expect. In AIR’s survey of the program’s first year, 2012–13, teachers in standalone TK rooms reported 25% of class time on child-directed activities. Kindergarten teachers reported 15%. In combined TK and kindergarten rooms, TK children spent about as much of the day in whole-group lessons as kindergartners did. That’s what 96 teachers said they did more than a decade ago, so use it as a tour question: is this a TK-only class or a combined one?
Combined rooms take other forms now. A district may place state preschool 4-year-olds in a TK classroom (Ed. Code § 48000(h)).
One difference shows up before you visit. A licensed preschool has a public licensing record of visits, complaint visits and citations, and our preschool search shows it. A TK room has no licensing file, because it’s part of a public school. We don’t give TK rooms a Scope Score either, since the CAASPP tests our scores use start in grade 3.
What to ask when you visit
- How many children and adults are in this room at 10 a.m. on a normal day?
- Is this a TK-only class, or combined with kindergarten or state preschool?
- How long is choice time, and who picks what children do?
- What happens after a toilet accident, and who helps?
- Is there rest time, and what if my child doesn’t sleep?
- Do worksheets come home, or is most of the work hands-on?
- How many rooms and adults will my child move between in a full day?
What are the downsides of TK?
The short day is the big one, and the planner above shows what it leaves.
For a family with an eight-hour job, TK alone is a morning, or often four to six hours where the district runs full-day TK. The rest has to come from ELO-P, a relative or paid care.
The class-size and ratio rules are softer than they look. TK’s 1 adult per 10 children and its class of 24 or fewer are both averages across a school’s TK classes (Ed. Code § 48000(g)), so one room can run bigger if another runs smaller. A licensed center’s floor is 1 teacher per 12, or a teacher and an aide per 15 or 18, but it holds room by room (22 CCR § 101216.3), and it stretches only at nap time (§ 101230).
Teacher training has a gap too. Under Ed. Code § 48000(g)(4), a teacher first assigned to TK after July 1, 2015 needed one of three things by August 1, 2025: 24 units of early childhood education, documented professional experience the law counts as comparable, or a child development permit or early childhood credential. Teachers first assigned to TK before then don’t need this extra qualification.
Quality varies by district, partly because the state leaves so much to districts. NIEER checks state programs against 10 policy benchmarks. For 2024–25 it scored TK at 3 of 10 and state preschool at 6 of 10. That scores rules on paper, not any classroom.
Your own campus may not have a TK room, so your child could ride to a nearby school.
What does each option cost once you count the hours?
TK tuition is free; the hours around it may not be.
ELO-P can charge a family fee on a sliding scale by income. It can’t charge children in foster care, children who are homeless or children who get free or reduced-price meals (CDE ELO-P FAQ). Districts can also opt out of ELO-P each year.
Part-day state preschool has no family fee. Full-day state preschool is free for families on CalWORKs and families below 75% of state median income. Children in protective services can be excused from the fee for up to 12 months when their service plan calls for it. Other families pay up to 1% of monthly income (CDE, MB 26-04). Head Start may not charge eligible families a fee for Head Start itself, though a program can charge for extra care before or after its funded hours (45 CFR 1302.18).
Private preschool is where the bill gets big. In the state’s 2021 survey of providers, for a preschool-age child in a licensed center, the middle full-time price was $1,735 a month in San Francisco County and $1,087 in Los Angeles County (full report). Those are 2021 prices, so ask each center for today’s. Our cost guide does the full-year math, with aftercare and summer.
The posted price isn’t always what every family pays. UCLA’s lab school, which has a pre-K class for 4-year-olds, says one in three of its families gets need-based tuition support, so ask any private program about aid.
What does the research say about TK and preschool?
Our read: a warm, attentive room matters more than the label on the door.
The research can’t pick between the two rooms near you, but it tells you what to weigh. Four studies come up again and again. They studied different children, in different decades, against different alternatives.
Perry Preschool: a small, intensive 1960s program
Perry enrolled 123 low-income Black children in Ypsilanti, Michigan, from 1962 to 1967. Researchers assigned 58 to an intensive preschool with weekly home visits and 65 to no preschool, mostly by lottery, and followed them for decades. A 2010 analysis by James Heckman’s team used follow-up to age 40. It estimated a social return of 7–10% a year on the money spent, counting things like lower crime and higher taxes paid. That’s a return to society, not to a family. Perry was far more intensive than a typical preschool, so it can’t stand in for one.
Tennessee: a statewide program that later looked worse
Tennessee’s pre-K trial randomized about 2,990 low-income children who applied to programs with more applicants than seats. Children offered a seat started kindergarten ahead, but the gains faded by the end of that year. By third grade they scored lower on state tests than the waitlisted children. By sixth grade the gap was larger, with more discipline problems and more special-education placements. It wasn’t a weak program on paper: the authors note it met 9 of NIEER’s 10 quality benchmarks when it went statewide.
The comparison is the part people skip. Waitlisted families made their own plans. In a smaller subsample, parents of 306 children who didn’t attend were interviewed: 63% of the children were in home-based care, 13% in Head Start and 16% in a private center. So the study compared an offer of this program against those choices. It didn’t compare preschool with staying home.
Boston: no test gains, but more graduation and college
Boston’s public preschool assigned seats by lottery, and researchers followed more than 4,000 children who applied from 1997 to 2003. Among children who didn’t get an offer, 64% ever finished high school. Going to the preschool raised that by about 6 percentage points, among students who stayed in Massachusetts public schools. Preschool children were also more likely to enroll in college and less likely to be locked up as teens. The study found no clear effect on state test scores. Gains in college going and discipline were larger for boys. The authors’ own lesson is to judge preschool by long-term results, not only test scores.
California’s own TK, before the expansion
The closest study to your choice is PPIC and PACE’s 2023 report. It compared nearly 70,000 children born just either side of the old December 2 cutoff, from 2013–14 to 2020–21. They lived in five large districts that are more urban and lower-income than the state as a whole. TK led to earlier identification of English learners and of children with special-education needs. It did not appear to raise third- and fourth-grade test scores more than other pre-K options. Social-emotional results looked positive for English-only students, and small or slightly negative for multilingual students. This was the older, smaller TK, before the state’s TK adult-to-child ratio rule began in 2022–23 (Ed. Code § 48000(g)). It isn’t the program your child would join.
What to make of it
Side by side, the four studies run from large lifelong gains to harm. They also differ in nearly everything else, from the children to what the comparison group did. None of them isolates why. The Brookings researchers who reviewed Tennessee read it as a lesson about that program, as it ran in 2009 and 2010, rather than about public pre-K in general.
You’ll also hear that early education “helps disadvantaged kids the most.” Those same Brookings researchers say the wider research finds bigger benefits for children from low-income families. These four studies can’t settle it for your child, though. Perry and Tennessee both served only low-income children and found opposite results. Boston found no reliable difference by family income; its clearest split was by gender. California’s TK found social-emotional gains mostly for English-only students.
So which one would we choose?
This is our opinion, held loosely: if your local TK is well run and aftercare covers your day, we’d find it hard to pay full tuition instead.
A great TK beats a mediocre preschool. A great preschool beats a mediocre TK too, so visit before you assume either way.
The exception is a happy child. Maybe your child loves their preschool, has friends there and is known by the teachers. That stability is worth something. Don’t yank a happy kid out of a good situation just to save money.
When the rooms are close, hours usually decide it. Go back to the workday planner, set your real drop-off and pickup, and price what’s left. If TK plus ELO-P covers it, the savings are real. If you’d be stitching together three handoffs and a grandparent, a full-day program may be worth its price.
At 3, we’d look for warm adults and other kids a few mornings a week. We’d look hard at state preschool or Head Start if you qualify. At 5, unless a teacher or doctor has flagged something specific, we’d send them to kindergarten when the cutoff says they can go.
What if our child seems young for TK?
TK is optional, so a just-turned-4 child can do another year of preschool instead.
California doesn’t require school until age 6, as our guide to what’s mandatory explains. If your child turned 4 in August and you’d like another year in a smaller room, that’s a fair choice.
It also isn’t “redshirting.” That word means holding back a child who is old enough for kindergarten. Waiting a year for TK because a birthday misses September 1 is just the cutoff.
On redshirting itself, the research disagrees with itself. NWEA found about 5% of kindergartners were redshirted in a typical year from 2017 to 2025, and their early lead was gone by third grade. Studies of children born just either side of a cutoff, such as Dhuey, Figlio, Karbownik and Roth’s in Florida, find a small edge for the oldest that lasts longer. They answer different questions. NWEA looks at families who chose to wait. The cutoff studies compare August and September babies. Our age-cutoff guide has the papers.
How do we enroll, and what if our school has no TK room?
Start with your school district’s enrollment page; the district decides which campus has room.
Charter schools with TK run their own applications. Each district sets its own calendar, so there’s no statewide date. Sacramento City Unified opened TK and kindergarten enrollment on January 13, 2026, for example. Garden Grove Unified opened on February 4. If your child turned 4 by September 1, 2026, it isn’t too late for this school year. San Diego Unified, for one, still lists online enrollment open for 2026–27, so call your district now. For 2027–28, watch for its window this winter.
- Gather the documents. Expect to need proof of age, proof of address and shot records. San Francisco Unified and West Contra Costa Unified both list all three, and West Contra Costa asks for two proofs of address. Ask about substitutes if you lack one.
- Check immunizations. TK uses the kindergarten-entry shot requirements, with special guidance for children who are still 3 when school starts. Use California’s TK immunization guidance with your child’s doctor.
- Don’t wait on potty training. A district must offer TK to every age-eligible child “regardless of their toilet training status” (CDE).
- Ask which campus. Districts can’t keep TK waiting lists (CDE), but your nearest school may be full.
A full campus doesn’t mean no TK. West Contra Costa Unified says that if your resident school runs out of space, “a neighboring school may be assigned.” San Diego Unified says it will help find a place at a nearby school. In the CDE survey PPIC cites, 85% of districts, charters and county offices offered TK at all their schools, which leaves some that don’t.
Ask about ELO-P in the same call. Does the district run it this year? Can my child get a place? What would we pay? The answer to the second question depends on the district. Broadly, where at least 55% of students are low-income, English learners or foster youth, the district must offer ELO-P to every TK to grade 6 student in a regular classroom program. Elsewhere, that duty covers only those students (CDE ELO-P FAQ).
Our data can help with the campus question. Across 10,260 active public and charter campuses, 5,548 reported TK students in CDE’s 2025–26 Census Day count. Another 4,199 reported none, and 513 have no matching record in our data (CDE enrollment files, our count). Those cover every school level, middle and high schools included. They count enrolled children, not open seats. Type your city or zip below, then confirm with the district.
Frequently asked questions
Do TK kids just repeat kindergarten?
Not by design. The law calls TK the first year of a two-year kindergarten program, so kindergarten is the second year (Ed. Code § 48000(d)). A child who started TK at the usual age moves on without the Kindergarten Continuance Form a true repeat needs (CDE). A real second year of kindergarten needs your written agreement. The state funds no more than two years across TK and kindergarten together (Ed. Code § 48011; § 46300(g)(2)). If a school’s two rooms worry you, ask to see both.
What comes after TK?
Kindergarten, the next fall, at the same school or one the district assigns. Then first grade. A child who was old enough for kindergarten but chose TK needs a signed Kindergarten Continuance Form to move on (CDE).
Is TK free?
Yes, TK has no tuition. Care before and after the TK day may cost money, depending on your district’s ELO-P and your family’s situation.
