State superintendent wants to preserve pre-K amid cuts

After the Legislature cut funding for the state's Transition to Kindergarten program this session, the state's superintendent is trying to preserve spots in the preschool program for 4-year-olds in high-poverty school districts and rural areas.

This school year, more than 7,000 students are enrolled in a Transition to Kindergarten (or TK) program, which is free and offered in public schools for kids in the year before kindergarten, according to the office of superintendent of public instruction.

But that is likely to change now that the Legislature cut funding for roughly 2,000 of those slots in the upcoming school year.

A plan released by OSPI in April means that about half the districts currently offering the prekindergarten program won't lose any slots, and no district will have its program cut entirely. Currently, 157 districts statewide offer TK.

In its plan, OSPI prioritized retaining spots in programs serving higher percentages of children in poverty, and also tried to preserve slots in areas where access to the state's preschool program for low-income children is more limited.

"Poverty drove this (prioritization), big time," Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in an interview last week.

OSPI said its methods for determining which districts should retain the most spots also took into account those serving high populations of multilingual students and those with disabilities.

As a result, districts located in more affluent areas will see the deepest cuts. Issaquah School District will lose 73% of its state-funded slots, Peninsula School District on the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas will lose 72%, and Snohomish School District will lose 66%.

Reykdal is critical of the Legislature's cuts, calling them shortsighted.

Serving a 4-year-old and getting them ready for school in reading and math "is way more affordable than struggling later in remedial work in … middle school, high school and college," Reykdal said in an interview. "So the logic of this was so broken."

Washington ranks low among states in terms of access for 4-year-olds to state-funded preschool, according to a recent report from the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Overall, roughly 70% of Washington kids of preschool age aren't enrolled in a private or public program. However, this estimate encompasses all preschool-age children statewide, including those whose families don't need or want childcare.

The Transition to Kindergarten program grew rapidly across the state, leaping from about 500 spots in 2020 to over 7,000 this school year. Some childcare providers have said they're struggling to fill slots in the wake of the program's growth.

The effect these new cuts may have on the state's early learning system overall is unclear, in part because schools are now explicitly allowed to charge families a sliding-scale fee for the program. Schools could use those fees or local funding to potentially supplement the funds cut by the Legislature.

But it remains to be seen whether schools might adopt a fee model. Reykdal said Wednesday that he hadn't yet heard of any school districts planning to do so.

There is a precedent for it - before the state funded full-day kindergarten, school districts could charge families for a full day of kindergarten.

And at the same time that state funding for TK is contracting, a donor-funded expansion of the state's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, which primarily serves children from low-income families, is poised to add more slots. (The donor, Ballmer Group, also provides funding to The Seattle Times to support coverage of early childhood education.)

Reykdal said he was not aware of any districts planning to stop providing TK entirely in the wake of state cuts - though he does anticipate layoffs as districts scale back their programs.

"Districts are saying, we will keep everything we can, because the demand to serve 4-year-olds is so high out there," he said.

Reykdal also pointed to state data showing greater shares of children who attended a TK program were ready for kindergarten than those who attended the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.

ECEAP is primarily for children from low-income families, while there is no income limit for enrollment in TK, meaning differences in household income could affect the overall results when comparing the programs.

According to OSPI data, though, low-income TK students also outpaced low-income ECEAP students in terms of school readiness. Comparing low-income students between the programs last fall, 78% of former TK students were ready in math, versus 63% of former ECEAP students. Nearly 86% of TK grads were ready in literacy versus 72% of ECEAP alums.

However, the National Institute for Early Education Research has found that ECEAP meets more of its quality benchmarks than TK, for example noting that there's no maximum class size or student-to-staff ratio in TK.

ECEAP, which is modeled on the federal Head Start early learning program, also differs from TK in that it provides wraparound support services for families.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 11:29 AM.