Top Takeaways While California’s expansion of TK has improved access to early education, the focus should now be on improving quality. LAUSD is looking to boost enrollment by expanding access to early education. Early education enrollment has helped offset the state’s overall enrollment decreases. California’s expansion of transitional kindergarten is helping slow enrollment declines, but a new national report raises concerns about the quality of the state’s early education programs. The 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook from the National Institute for Early Education Research, or NIEER, ranked California 14th in the nation for access to its public early education programs for 4-year-olds. It ranks 15th in access for 3-year-olds. Plus, the state met only a fraction of the quality benchmarks it is evaluated against. The ranking is based on 2024-25 data. Some benchmarks have since been met, including the staff-to-child ratio, which now meets the 1:10 standard required by the state. The findings underscore a broader tension in the state’s early education strategy: While expanding programs like transitional kindergarten, or TK, has helped stabilize overall enrollment, educators and policymakers are still working to ensure those programs meet key quality standards. Related ReadingCalifornia expanding early childhood education apprenticeshipsOctober 14, 2025 This tension prompted co-author Steven Barnett to add an unofficial caveat: Expanding early education before meeting all quality benchmarks is less worrisome if a state has set clear timelines to reach those standards. “I’m OK with it in California, not in some other states,” said Barnett, who founded the institute. “And…
