CALPADS Update FLASH #257

To:           Local Educational Agency (LEA) Representatives

From:      California Department of Education (CDE) –
                California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) Team

Date:      July 24, 2023

Subject:  CALPADS Update FLASH #257

Transitional Kindergarten Updates

Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) should now submit the Transitional Kindergarten (TK) grade level to CALPADS for those students enrolling in a TK program. Refer to Flash 255 for more information on the CALPADS changes related to the implementation of this new grade level.

It should be noted that Education Code (EC) Section 48000(d) defines transitional kindergarten as “the first year of a two-year kindergarten program,” and not specifically as a grade level. CALPADS, however, is collecting “TK” as a grade level to facilitate the reporting of TK student data and to meet the intent of EC Section 60900(d)(4)(A) which requires data for TK students to be collected separately from kindergarten students.

LEAs Do Not Need to Update the Online Public Update for Schools for Transitional Kindergarten

Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) report the low- and high-grade levels offered by schools to the Online Public Update for Schools (OPUS) which is then displayed publicly in the California School Directory. Since TK is not an official grade level, it is not a grade option within OPUS. Therefore, LEAs cannot update OPUS with a grade level of TK, and the California School Directory will continue to reflect Kindergarten as the lowest grade offered at a school, even if the school offers TK. This will not impact any validations or reports in CALPADS.

TK Students in 2023−24

In 2023−24, students who turn five on or before April 2, 2024 are funding eligible

To facilitate the addition of TK students to California’s public school system, as specified in Education Code (EC) Section 48000(c)(1), LEAs are to ensure that TK is available to students based on when they turn 5 years old. Specifically:

• In 2023−24, students are eligible for TK if they turn 5 between September 2 and April 2.
• In 2024−25, students are eligible for TK if they turn 5 between September 2 and June 2.
• In 2025−26, LEAs are required to make TK available to all children who will have their fourth birthday by September 1 of the school year.

In 2023−24, students who turn five after April 2, 2024 may attend TK under specified conditions, but are not funding eligible until their fifth birthday

As noted in Flash 228, per EC Section 48000(c)(2)(A), in any school year a school district or charter school may, at any time during a school year, admit a child to a TK program who will have their fifth birthday after the date specified for the applicable year, (for 2023−24, this would be after April 2, 2024), but during that same school year, with the approval of the parent or guardian, if:

• The local governing body of the district or charter school determines that the admittance is in the best interests of the child, and
• The parent or guardian is given information regarding the effect of this early admittance.

These student enrollments should be submitted to CALPADS; however, they do not generate average daily attendance (ADA) used for Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) apportionment funding until their fifth birthday, and they are not included in the Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) for determining funding for the LCFF supplemental and concentration grants.

New provisions authorizing enrollment of “early enrollment” students; SENR0622 will be updated to allow LEAs to enroll these students

As described in Flash 228, upon full implementation, as a condition for receipt of apportionment for pupils in TK, a school district or charter school shall ensure that by the 2025−26 school year, TK is available to all children who will have their fourth birthday by September 1 of the school year.

For LEAs desiring to provide TK to students who will turn four by September 1 of the school year, ahead of the 2025−26 school year, the 2023−24 Budget trailer bill, Senate Bill 114 (Chapter 48, Statutes of 2023) added EC Section 48000.15. This added section authorizes, for the 2023−24 and 2024−25 school years, LEAs to enroll in transitional kindergarten, “early enrollment” students who turn four between June 2 and September 1 preceding the start of the school year. For the 2023−24 school year, this means that LEAs may enroll students as grade level = TK who will turn four between June 2, 2023 and September 1, 2023, if certain conditions are met. These conditions include, but are not limited to, conditions for the TK classrooms in which these “early enrollment” students are placed. LEAs should refer to EC Section 48000.15 for the specific conditions that must be met. In addition, early enrollment students shall not generate ADA or be included in the enrollment or UPC for determining LCFF supplemental and concentration grant funding, until the student has attained their fifth birthday.

Currently CALPADS input validation rule SENR0622 – Invalid Transitional Kindergarten (TK) Student Age, rejects students who are not four on September 1. The CDE understands that LEAs may want to enroll these students now in order to assess them with the Initial English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) or the Initial Alternate ELPAC. Therefore, SENR0622 will be updated in the next two weeks to allow students who will turn four by September 1 to enroll in CALPADS. LEAs should wait on updating CALPADS with these student enrollments until the validation has been updated. The CDE will send out a listserv message when the update has been made to SENR0622.

Additional Resources

For additional information about transition kindergarten, refer to the CDE Universal Prekindergarten Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/em/kinderfaq.asp.