Funding

Learn about available TK funding options

Under the law, Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is the first year of a two-year Kindergarten experience. Therefore, your district will receive the same full California Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding rate for TK students that you receive for all Kindergarten students. Children who are eligible to attend TK in the year that they enroll will receive ADA from the first day of school. Children who are not yet eligible to attend under the state’s implementation timeline but who are admitted by their school district as part of an Expanded TK (ETK) program, will begin generating ADA on their fifth birthday. Children admitted under ETK are not included in a district’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) supplemental and concentration grant formula until their second year of enrollment.¹ Since TK is considered the first year of a two-year Kindergarten program, any other funding (federal, state, or local) that is available for Kindergarten may also be used to support TK.

The 2022-23 State Budget rebenched the Proposition 98 guarantee to fund the expansion of TK. Additionally, the Budget included a Local Control Funding Formula add-on for TK which will cover the cost of lowering student-adult ratios to 12:1.

Funding Opportunities

ESSER I, II, and III – $20 Billion

ESSER funds can be used for any activity authorized by the Every Child Succeeds Act (ESSA), Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Perkins Act, or McKinley-Vento Act. For these purposes, any funding available to Kindergarten students would be available for TK. Some allowable uses of these funds include:

Providing principals and other school leaders with the resources necessary to address the needs of individual schools.
Activities to address the unique needs of the neediest pupils.
Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services and continuing to employ existing staff.

Expanded Learning Opportunity Grants – $5.5 Billion

The Expanded Learning Opportunity Grants can be used for a variety of flexible supports to help students succeed. Some examples of possible uses include:

Integrated supports to address barriers to learning, including mental health supports, school meals, before- and after-school programs, and programs to address student trauma and social-emotional learning.
Staff training to engage students and families in addressing social-emotional health or academic needs.
Services to help close learning gaps, including tutoring, materials or supplies designed to accelerate student academic progress and English-language proficiency.

Concentration Grant 2.0

Funding adjusted to 65 percent of the base grant with the condition that the funds be used to increase the number of credentialed or classified staff who provide direct services to pupils at high-poverty schools compared to low-poverty schools in a Local Education Agency.

Pre-Kindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program – $600 Million

The Pre-Kindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant program funding can be used for costs associated with expanding TK enrollment. Funds are broken into two programs that were created in the 2021-22 State Budget:

$200 million in base grants for creating or expanding California State Preschool Programs (CSPPs) and TK programs, planning, hiring and recruitment, staff training and professional development, classroom materials and supplies, and establishing or strengthening partnerships with other preschool providers.
$100 million in competitive grants to increase the number of highly-qualified teachers available to serve CSPP and TK pupils and to provide training and professional development to teachers and staff.
The 2022-23 State Budget allocated an additional $300 million to be used for costs associated with creating or expanding preschool or TK programs or to establish or strengthen partnerships with other providers of Pre-K, including Head Start programs.
Note: Information on this page was provided by School Services of California Inc.

¹	School Services of California Inc. Implementing Universal TK–The Nuts and Bolts. Webinar (Nov. 9, 2021).