A child completes an art project meant to help teach how to count to 100 in a transitional kindergarten classroom in Los Angeles earlier this year. Credit: Lillian Mongeau, EdSource Today
After a year’s delay, many charter schools will begin offering transitional kindergarten classes in the fall. There had been some disagreement with the California Department of Education over whether charters were required to offer the new program for children who turn five in the first few months of the school year.
While school districts rolled out the transitional programs at the beginning of this academic year, many charters did not. The state’s two largest charter advocacy groups said last spring that the law does not explicitly require schools to offer the program as long as they don’t request state funding for transitional kindergarten students.
“We continue to be of the opinion that it’s an option, albeit a very attractive one for most schools,” said Eric Premack, the executive director of the Charter Schools Development Center, which supports and advocates for California charter schools.
The California Charter Schools Association, a larger charter advocacy and support network, concurred and also advised its members that they were not legally required to offer transitional kindergarten.
The California Department of Education, however, does not consider the program optional. ”Each elementary or unified school district must offer transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classes