California's subsidized preschool program might serve 2-year-olds
Proposal would expand existing services' reach to include younger kids
“It (the proposed budget) would fill a big need and invest in one of the most underinvested parts of the already chronically underfunded early care and education system.” — Shantel Meek, founding director of the Children's Equity Project
California's subsidized preschool program may be open to children as young as 2 if the expansion of services in Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed budget comes to pass.
The California State Preschool Program currently serves the state's low-income 3- and 4-year-olds. The new proposal to expand the program to children as young as 2 is part of the K-12 “trailer bill,” clarifying policies related to the state budget for 202223. Typically, the governor revises the proposed budget in May and the Legislature is required to approve it by June.
Currently, California, which has almost 3 million children under the age of 5, trails behind other states in terms of access to early education, with only 37% enrolled in transitional kindergarten and the state's subsidized preschool program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research, a research organization at Rutgers. That's why childhood advocates see this proposal as a big step forward.
“It is exciting to think that we might expand access to quality child care for more of our toddlers in a systematic way,” said Gina Fromer, CEO of Children's Council of San Francisco, a resource and referral agency. “Growing our supply of toddler care options supports our state's working families — particularly in our communities of color — to overcome struggles like pandemic unemployment, health crises and so much more.”
Preschool and child care are major expenses for most fami
lies. In 2020, the average annual price of child care was around $10,174 nationally, a 5% increase from 2019, according to a report from Child Care Aware of America.
Cost is a key reason this expansion of the state's preschool would be a gamechanger for working families struggling to make it in a high-cost state. About 6 of 10 California children under 12 live in a family where all parents are working, according to the California Budget and Policy Center. While the need is high, 60% live in a child care desert with limited access to caregivers.
“California's infants and toddlers have long been last on the list of children served by our public systems,” Fromer said, “despite what science tells us to do in support of child development during the critical first years of life.”
Coupled with the expansion of transitional kindergarten, or TK, to all 4-yearolds, this increased preschool accessibility represents real progress toward reaching underserved children, experts say. Currently, the preschool program serves 3- and 4-year-olds while TK serves primarily those who turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2.
“It is a very big deal,” said Scott Moore, head of Kidango, a nonprofit organization that runs many Bay Area child care centers. Also, if this latest proposal is approved by the Legislature, advocates say, the 2-yearolds coming into state preschool could fill the seats vacated by the 4-year-olds headed to TK, helping maintain balance in the system.
The main ambition of state-funded preschool is to fuel the learning and development of young children to improve their academic performance. Preschool can accomplish this goal, research suggests, but only through stable and high-quality programs. If the quality is inconsistent, experts say, educational achievement suffers.
If quality is ensured, however, early childhood advocates see increased early education as critical to closing the achievement gap, the gulf in academic performance between low-income students and their higher-income peers.
“I'm thrilled to see some concrete steps toward improving preschool inclusion,” said Shantel Meek, founding director of the Children's Equity Project, an advocacy/research organization based at Arizona State University. “It would fill a big need and invest in one of the most underinvested parts of the already chronically underfunded early care and education system. It's the most expensive and least accessible part of the system, and parents have a very hard time finding high-quality care.”
The state's proposed expansion of its subsidized preschool system comes even as President Joe Biden's ambitious plan for universal preschool and affordable child care, a key piece of his domestic policy agenda, has stalled in Congress, under fire from conservatives.
Universal preschool has long been a progressive goal. Then-President Barack Obama notably championed it back in 2013 but was unable to muster Republican support.
The Biden plan is designed to make free preschool available to all 3- and 4-year-olds, particularly lowincome children. The proposal would establish a federal-state partnership offering funds to expand public preschool programs to an estimated 6 million children.