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Yolanda Thomas is a 27-year family daycare and preschool provider. Her business, Best Beginnings, is based in Contra Costa County. <\/p>\n
Credit: Child Care Providers United<\/p>\n
Top Takeaways<\/p>\n
Transitional kindergarten has been gradually expanded since 2021 and is now free for all California 4-year-olds.<\/p>\n
Childcare providers were expected to care for younger children, which comes with additional licensing and staffing requirements.<\/p>\n
Many providers say they need far more support and funding.<\/p>\n
When one of Yolanda Thomas\u2019 4-year-old students left her family daycare for California\u2019s transitional kindergarten program, she lost more than a child in her classroom. She also now had an open space that she would need to figure out how to fill.<\/p>\n
By the time the family discovered the school day did not match their work schedules and wanted to return, another child had taken the space. Since then, Thomas has felt the need to convince parents of 4-year-olds to keep their children enrolled in her daycare and licensed preschool program, something she never had to do before.<\/p>\n
Across California, childcare and preschool providers say similar disruptions have become increasingly common since the state\u2019s expansion of free transitional kindergarten for all 4-year-olds, drawing students out of some existing programs while offering little support to help providers adapt.<\/p>\n
TK is free, and that\u2019s hard for families to pass up, but as California\u2019s early education landscape has shifted, many providers like Thomas say they feel left behind.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the state Legislature passed a law that gradually expanded transitional kindergarten, known as TK, into California\u2019s newest public school grade. It made care free for all 4-year-olds, regardless of income or background, and it meant businesses like the one Thomas has run for nearly 30 years would need to adjust.<\/p>\n
California has dramatically increased spending on early childhood education under Gov. Gavin Newsom. It nearly tripled from $5.4 billion in 2020<\/a> to $14.4 billion in 2025,<\/a> according to the state\u2019s Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n The amount toward TK increased as the program reached full expansion. Childcare workers in other settings, such as home-based programs and centers that care for children from birth to age 5 have not seen the same increase in funding.<\/p>\n \u201cI think from a lot of perspectives, a family moving out of paying ($10,000) to $30,000 a year for their child\u2019s preschool education and moving that child into TK is a good thing,\u201d said Hanna Melnick, director of early learning policy at the Learning Policy Institute. \u201cThe loss of capacity of the provider who was teaching that child, if they\u2019re not indeed actually going to serve younger kids who wouldn\u2019t otherwise be in care \u2014 that\u2019s the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Childcare workers were considered essential during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many hoped that recognition would translate into long-term investments in the childcare system and for the state to start \u201crecognizing what we\u2019re doing, respecting us and paying us for the work that we have done. And it is just like, now with the TK rollout, all that is forgotten,\u201d said Thomas, who is part of the Child Care Providers United. \u201cAnd now the only thing that exists is TK and that\u2019s where all the funds and the focus is going.\u201d<\/p>\n The disparity is evident in the governor\u2019s most recent state budget proposal<\/a>. The California State Preschool Program and other childcare providers that offer subsidized care would receive a 2.01% cost-of-living adjustment, while school districts \u2014 including TK programs \u2014 would receive a 4.31% adjustment.<\/p>\n The most recent legislative budget proposal<\/a>, still to be negotiated with the governor before it\u2019s enacted by July 1, appeared more responsive to providers\u2019 requests. It maintains nearly 7,000 childcare slots the governor suggested eliminating while also adding almost 23,000 more spaces. There is also a proposal to move the state preschool program under Prop. 98, the state\u2019s funding formula for education. Education groups and advocates are at odds over the idea<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cEarly childhood programs have always been significantly underfunded, and it\u2019s always been difficult to keep programs running,\u201d said Melnick. \u201cAnd so I think it was a big insult to people that different folks got the money to expand, and it\u2019s really frustrating for completely understandable reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n The missing piece of California\u2019s TK expansion<\/p>\n Advocates and researchers describe universal transitional kindergarten as a significant achievement that has expanded access to free early education for California families. But many also argue that the state failed to provide comparable support to the childcare and preschool providers it expected to absorb younger children as 4-year-olds moved into TK.<\/p>\n The strain has become increasingly visible. A recent UC Berkeley report<\/a> found a net loss of about 1,100 nonprofit preschool programs between 2019 and 2025, which researchers say can be attributed to the TK expansion.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/education-beat_podcast-cover-150x150.jpg\")
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