North Sonoma County basic aid districts closing transitional kindergarten programs due to lack of state funding

Rosie Monson, mom of three, hoped her youngest daughter would join her two elementary-aged children at Alexander Valley School at the start of next school year.

She wanted her daughter, age 4, to begin transitional kindergarten, or TK, at the small elementary school campus in the fall.

Then the district announced they’d be closing their classroom doors to TK students and sending them to Mattie Washburn Elementary, over 10 miles away in the Windsor Unified School District.

“It’s just not realistic,” Monson said. “We cannot add two hours to driving every day in order to get my daughter to a different school, two towns away.”

Monson is now looking to enroll her daughter in local private schools because she feels there’s no other option. Transitional kindergarten, which precedes kindergarten, is free for families who live within the bounds of a school district.

“(Private school) is not what I ever wanted to do, and it’s not financially what I want to do now, but it’s probably what we’re going to have to do,” Monson said.

Other north county parents in the Alexander Valley and Geyserville districts who want to enroll their 4-year-olds in TK next school year may now have to choose between a long commute or alternative early education for their students.

The two small elementary districts say they don’t have enough funding to support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s five-year plan for universal transitional kindergarten.

The plan, announced in 2021, began a four-year roll out program that progressively increases eligibility for students, adding younger children each year until all 4-year-olds are eligible for TK by the 2025-26 school year.

The governor allotted $1.2 billion last year to support districts in expanding or establishing their TK programs.

But none of that money went to so-called basic aid districts like Alexander Valley and Geyserville, which get most of their annual funding from local property taxes.

Basic aid is one of two funding mechanisms in California and is primarily used by small rural districts. The other mechanism is the Local Control Funding Formula, which allocates money based on a district’s average daily attendance. When a district’s property tax revenue exceeds the money a district would get as determined by the local control formula, they become a basic aid district.

There are 18 basic aid districts in Sonoma County. In Napa County, all but one school district is basic aid.

“The state is asking us to fund a whole other grade level without any apportionment at all,” said Alexander Valley Superintendent Matt Reno. “This zero-funding challenge coupled with a TK increased qualifying age band … has really put community funded districts like ours across the state in this difficult situation.”

Districts like Windsor, which receive per-pupil funding through the Local Control Funding Formula, are allotted $14,000 per enrolled student, on average.

Reno said it would cost upward of six figures to support a TK program at the Alexander Valley School because of required updates to their playground, bathrooms and additional staff required to supervise the younger learners.

And the upkeep of the program without incoming per-pupil funding as enrollment grows would be unsustainable, he said.

“Of course, we could have a robust program, of course, we could have a playground that's aligned,” Reno said. “All of those pieces would have a teacher … And this is the beauty of what those other districts are being able to do. But we are in a real tough spot.”

While some students will have increased commutes to Mattie Washburn or Cali Calmecac Language Academy, Reno said it’s a better alternative to support the developmental needs of 4-year-olds preparing for kindergarten.

Windsor Unified Superintendent Jeremy Decker anticipates up to 10 students will transfer into their district, but they have capacity for more families if the need increases.

“Education is all about collaboration, and this is a great example of that,” Decker said. “We are excited to welcome these students to our schools and are pleased that our sister districts see the value we can offer their TK students through our exceptional program.”

Windsor’s TK program is years ahead of the governor’s schedule, already offering admission to all 4-year-olds. Between the district’s two schools, 12 classrooms were opened last August, using funds from last year’s $1.2 billion statewide allotment for local control funded districts.

Alexander Valley School had a TK and kindergarten blended classroom, but it had its own challenges in supporting the few 4-year-olds enrolled in the class.

“As the age gap widens in the blended model, not everyone's getting what they need,” Reno said. “You’ve got the natural development gap that's not necessarily allowing the classroom teacher to fully meet these play based, experiential learners in the class.”

Reno said it will only be harder for the students and the kindergarten staff to support more and younger 4-year-olds. But with the Windsor partnership, the blended classroom will phase out, only supporting 5-year-old kindergarten students.

Geyserville Unified has not yet decided whether it will officially partner with Windsor, but all signs point to yes, said superintendent Deborah Bertolucci.

“For us fiscally, we have to be very mindful of what programs we can offer here,” Bertolucci said. “Unfortunately with no additional funding to support this type of program, its challenging for us in the district.”

The Geyserville school board will vote on the partnership with Windsor at its Feb. 15 meeting.

Basic aid districts across the state are undergoing major changes to their transitional and general kindergarten programs in preparation for the 2024-25 school year, and the state has not said whether districts will face repercussions despite its mandate.

Since the California Department of Education mandated transitional kindergarten be offered in all California school districts, they have refused to say whether they can actually enforce the rule

Pushback from basic aid districts — which make up 15% of California’s school districts — about the state not footing the bill for the expensive program has started conversations at the state-level about supporting these small, often rural districts.

Two rollouts of Universal Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation grants were meant to boost schools like Alexander Valley School to make changes to its playgrounds and set up classrooms. But Reno said the district only received $58,000 from the state — less than half of what they needed.

“Some districts were getting as little as $20,000 for their TK program — $20,000 doesn't even pay a salary,” said Sonoma County Office of Education’s Universal Prekindergarten Specialist, Brulene Zanutto. “Sometimes people hear that there's funding, but they don't realize that the funding is not equal to some of the costs in running one of these programs.”

Reno said they are keeping the $58,000 in the district reserves, while they wait to see if the state will roll out grants that can make up the remaining costs. If the money is not used, the district has to return it to the state.

And in the meantime, while basic aid districts continue to put pressure on the state, families like Monson are feeling the effects.

“I understand we're not going to be funded because we're basic aid, but it doesn't mean that they could use my kid to try to get state funding by holding out,” Monson said. “And that's what it feels like.”

Report For America corps member Adriana Gutierrez covers education and child welfare issues for The Press Democrat. Reach her at Adriana.Gutierrez@pressdemocrat.com.