LAUSD to offer universal transitional kindergarten next school year

LOS ANGELES - Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, thousands of four-year-olds will be able to enroll in transitional kindergarten at Los Angeles Unified schools.

Starting in the fall, 488 of LAUSD’s elementary schools will include universal transitional kindergarten programs.

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said these programs will help students prepare for kindergarten and first grade.

"If they do not possess the readiness skills to learn then we know that the inevitable will happen," he said during a press conference on Friday morning. "That means by third grade they will have fallen behind grade-level proficiency in reading and numeracy."

He continued to say, "Probably by middle school...they will be significantly below grade level performance and their ability to graduate on time or at all may be compromised." 

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California’s $2.7 billion plan is expected to be the largest universal preschool program in the nation and under the state’s mandated timeline, universal TK would be made available to children whose fourth birthday falls on or before September 1 – starting in the fall of 2025. However, LAUSD is two years ahead of schedule.

Currently, 14,000 students are benefiting from early education programs and by the fall, that’ll expand to an additional 10,000 students.