In Washington, children under five years old who do not have access to early learning opportunities but who need extra preparation for kindergarten (as determined by school districts) may enroll in transitional kindergarten—if their school district offers the program.

According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), by rule, school districts may “adopt uniform entry qualifications for kindergarten, including birth date requirements.” Additionally, “school districts may adopt policies that provide for individual exceptions to the district’s uniform entry qualifications.”

The supplemental operating budget appropriates $125,000 for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to study student participation in transitional kindergarten programs (sec. 607(4)(n)). The study is due Dec. 31, 2023 (and the budget states that the Legislature intends to fund the completion of the report in 2023–25). The report must include:

• The number of districts providing, and students enrolled in, transitional kindergarten,
• The number of enrolled students who previously attended prekindergarten or the early childhood education and assistance program (ECEAP),
• The number of enrolled students with an individualized education plan (IEP),
• An analysis of how districts select enrollees,
• Differences in teacher preparation for transitional kindergarten compared to ECEAP,
• An identification of why districts offer the program and how they pay for it, and
• A comparison to other states.

Meanwhile, the supplemental budget adds a proviso to general apportionment for all-day kindergarten (sec. 504(12)(b)). To generate all-day kindergarten funding allocations, enrollments under a district’s uniform entry qualifications must be based on the ability and/or need of an individual student.

The proviso notes that there has been “significant growth in exceptions provided” to districts’ uniform entry qualifications under transitional kindergarten programs. It requires OSPI to adopt rules regarding exceptions for SY 2022–23. The rules must:

• Limit allocations for exceptions to uniform entry qualifications only based on ability and/or need of an individual student,
• Define enrollments under exceptions that exceed 2021–22 enrollments under exceptions as “nonindividualized programmatic exceptions” that do not generate all-day kindergarten allocations, and
• Allow districts to fund nonindividualized programmatic exceptions from local revenues as enrichments.

(Previous posts on the supplemental budget are here.)