For years, early childhood providers in California described long waitlists as families sought preschool for their 4-year-old children. But in accounts collected by CalMatters and distributed by The Associated Press, some private preschools now say the demand has moved to the state’s free public pre-kindergarten grade—transitional kindergarten—creating vacancies and raising the prospect of closures they say they cannot afford.
Supporters of the policy, including parents who enrolled their children, frame transitional kindergarten as a solution to both cost and scheduling pressure. They say moving 4-year-olds into a public program reduces a year of child-care bills and places children in school settings earlier, with access to teachers and services tied to school districts. In contrast, several operators interviewed for the report said transitional kindergarten expansion has destabilized a child-care sector that depends on enrollment across multiple age groups to sustain labor costs and licensing requirements.
The report centers on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push for universal preschool and expanded child care for working parents. It says transitional kindergarten has been a signature part of his educational legacy, describing how he has framed the policy as among the largest child-care expansions in the country. The state’s grade, the report says, became available to a broader share of children four years ago and opened this school year for all children who turned 4 by September, following a more limited rollout in the preceding decade.
For families able to enroll, the accounts emphasize affordability and day-to-day differences. Melissa Chen, a San Jose attorney, told CalMatters that her family had been paying $1,800 a month for private day care before switching her son to transitional kindergarten in the Berryessa Union School District. Chen said the change improved her son’s social adjustment and daily experience, and she said the couple continued to pay for an after-school care program on campus at about one-third the cost of private preschool.
Chen said the transition has worked smoothly for her family and highlighted the scale-up challenge operators faced: “If anyone doubted that the state was going to be able to stand up an entire TK program in five years, you would never know it from how smoothly it’s gone for us this year,” she said. In the report, supporters also argue transitional kindergarten can help some children be screened for special education services earlier than they otherwise might, and parents interviewed for CalMatters described the program as better preparing them for school.
At the same time, the report describes pressure on providers who serve younger children, and on private preschools that rely on fees and subsidies that may not fully cover costs. It describes one operator, Frisha Moore, who runs Moore Learning Preschool & Child Care Center in Elk Grove, where the report says fewer 4-year-olds are enrolling. Moore told CalMatters that dozens of families in recent years have chosen transitional kindergarten for their children, leaving one playground and two classrooms empty. She said the preschool cannot compete with free public school, and she described thinking about closing “every single day.”
Moore said closing would remove 91 licensed child care spots from the county, including 20 for children under age 2, for whom options are particularly scarce, according to the report. The accounts reflect an economic reality the report attributes to the child-care industry: with tight regulations and thin margins, enrollment of 4-year-olds helps cover higher labor costs tied to infant and toddler care, so drawing mostly 4-year-olds into public school may not balance financially for centers that also serve younger children.
The report also cites research pointing to closures in Los Angeles County after transitional kindergarten expanded. It says a UC Berkeley report issued in December found 167 preschools closed between 2020 and 2024, and that researchers attributed part of the decline to the addition of the public school grade. Bruce Fuller, the Berkeley sociologist who authored the report, said Newsom “has done a hell of a lot” to allow more children to access cheaper early childhood care, but he added that the broader problem remains unsolved: “He’s also expanded a lot of pieces to the puzzle, without solving the puzzle.”
Not all officials accept the conclusion. Jessica Holmes, an education program budget manager at the Department of Finance, disputed the idea that transitional kindergarten caused private preschool closures, telling CalMatters that declining birth rates could also have played a role. Holmes also said families in income-restricted programs have choices between transitional kindergarten and certain subsidized providers, and she said the school-system approach was designed to ensure statewide seats. The report quotes Holmes as saying that “One structure that is consistent across the state is the school system,” adding, “Even in the most rural areas, we have schools.”
While the report highlights transitional kindergarten’s appeal to many parents, it argues that the expansion alone may not resolve child care access for younger children or for working families with schedules that require non-school hours. The report describes the policy landscape as a “patchwork of options” that includes state-contracted child care centers for low-income families, vouchers, and federally funded Head Start programs, each with income and eligibility limits. Donna Sneeringer, director of the Child Care Resource Center in Los Angeles County, said the public grade “is an incredible opportunity for many kids to have access to a preschool education,” but also told CalMatters: “It doesn’t work for every family.”
In the report, critics said the grade can leave gaps for parents who need alternative hours that private child care can offer. It says school districts are required to offer a seat in transitional kindergarten to enrolling 4-year-olds, but not necessarily at the child’s nearest elementary school if capacity is limited, so some parents are offered seats at schools too far from home. It also describes variation across districts in how after-school care is provided and says some parents could not enroll their children in transitional kindergarten because they could not get the available after-care slots that might align with their work schedules.
The accounts include operators who said the shift has happened quickly enough to outpace their ability to adjust. Erika Jones, secretary-treasurer of the California Teachers Association, said transitional kindergarten helped families connect with local school communities earlier, quoting her as saying, “Public schools are a beacon in the community, you build lasting friendships,” and, “To start that and have that process from the beginning makes the most sense.” But other interviews for the report described private preschools being forced to close as their 4-year-old enrollment declined.
One example in the report is Brittany Jackson, whose 3-year-old son still attends preschool at Moore’s center in Elk Grove. Jackson told CalMatters she was initially reluctant to move her child to transitional kindergarten later in the year because she worried it was too early to leave a play-based program. She said she planned to keep her son at Moore’s center for another year because she receives a state-funded voucher that covers most of the preschool fees.
The report depicts Moore’s financial squeeze as partly driven by reimbursement gaps. It says Moore said families primarily pay with vouchers, but state reimbursement rates do not cover all operating costs. Moore said she has cut staff and combined 3- and 4-year-olds into one class to fulfill adult-to-child ratios. The report says the center is about 40% full and that she could not afford to close due to small business loans she still owes.
Another closure described is Panache Enfants, a preschool in San Ramon run by Shilpa Panech. Panech, the report says, owned the preschool for 13 years, cared for children ages 6 months to 6 years, and had expected the universal preschool effort to resemble other states where families can choose a free option at either a school or a private center. Instead, she told CalMatters, she watched 4-year-old enrollment at her preschool fall sharply, from 24 to one, and she said costs and licensing requirements prevented her from expanding into infant care. The report says Panech closed the preschool last month, after helping the remaining 30 enrolled families find other care, resulting in the loss of 72 licensed child care spots in Contra Costa County.
The report leaves the question of what comes next tied to whether California can expand public seats for 4-year-olds while keeping enough options for families who need child care beyond the school day and enough capacity for younger children. It describes one idea under discussion: requiring school districts to partner with private centers to offer child care outside transitional kindergarten hours. Patricia Lozano, director of Early Edge California, acknowledged in the report that the state must do more to ensure abundant options for all parents and keep private centers open to serve younger children, and she said advocates are also pushing Newsom to fund more vouchers.