California expands TK, but thousands of 4

The number of students enrolled in TK has grown each year, but it is still far less than the number of eligible 4-year-olds.

With the rollout of TK, enrolled in publicly funded preschool programs, which also include state-subsidized preschool, Head Start programs and vouchers for low-income children to use in any child care program were enrolled in one of these options in 2023-24, up from 37% in 2019-20. The majority of these children were in TK.

It is unclear how many of the other 45% of 4-year-olds enrolled in private preschool or stayed home.

“It’s a problem if children don’t know about it, or their families are not choosing it because it’s perceived to be low quality, but if it’s in fact that families prefer something else and those children are equally prepared for kindergarten, th