As the 2023-24 school year begins, more transitional kindergarten students are attending.

Tens of thousands of students have returned to classes in Monterey County in the past week. Among them are about 100 little kids who are too young for kindergarten, but are walking up to their first-ever day of school at Oscar Loya Elementary in Salinas. Many are accompanied by their parents to the door. Before walking into their transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms, the students are invited to smile and pose for a photo while holding a sign that reads “kinder.”

Two years ago, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 130, which added an extra grade: transitional kindergarten, known as TK. There is a five-year implementation plan to expand TK, at a cost of $2.7 billion per year. For the 2023-24 school year, kids who turn 5 between Sept. 1 and Feb. 2 are eligible for TK; by 2025, all kids who turn 4 by Sept. 1 will be able to enroll.

Research shows kids who enroll in TK are better prepared for K-12. They learn pre-math, pre-literacy and social skills, with a more significant impact on low-income and English-learner students. “They get an extra year of school that many of them would not access otherwise,” says PK Diffenbaugh, superintendent of Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

Of course, getting new students into classrooms requires some logistics. School districts across the state have built new classrooms and upgraded existing ones to welcome the new group of younger students. Alisal Union School District opened a new kinder wing with three new classrooms at Loya Elementary on Aug. 1, and is working on doing the same at Chavez and Creekside elementaries.

MPUSD, meanwhile, has applied for state grants, but did not get funding in the first round, which was exhausted after money was allocated based on students’ needs. (Schools with a higher student population that receives free meals, are English learners or live in foster care ranked higher on the list.)

MPUSD and AUSD both have at least one TK classroom at each elementary campus.

AUSD district saw a 64-percent increase in TK enrollment this year, with 307 students, up from 173 last year. The district is offering TK at all schools for the first time this year, and expanded hours. Instead of half-days, they will have full days like other elementary students.

Rosa Mederos, a kindergarten teacher at Loya Elementary, says longer hours will help students adapt faster to a school setting. Last year, she had two kindergarten classes with 10 kids for three hours each. Now, she will teach over 20 students for an extended period of time.

At MPUSD, there are 240 TK students this year. (The district didn’t experience an enrollment boost because they already offered TK at all campuses.) What will change is funding – until now, the district could only get state funds for students who are at least 5 years old. During the 2022-23 school year, MPUSD lost about $300,000 in state funds for early-enrolled TK students. That will change this year, thanks to the new state law.