Education finance: transitional kindergarten: funding for basic aid school districts and necessary small schools.

Assembly Member Addis proposes expanding state funding for transitional kindergarten programs in basic aid school districts and necessary small schools, establishing dedicated funding streams beginning in the 2025-26 fiscal year. The legislation modifies California's Local Control Funding Formula to ensure these institutions can maintain quality early education programs without reducing other educational services.

For basic aid districts, which typically receive minimal state funding due to high local revenues, the bill mandates additional state support specifically for transitional kindergarten. This includes both the standard formula calculation of base, supplemental and concentration grants, plus a new transitional kindergarten add-on amount, all multiplied by student attendance. The legislation also creates a parallel funding mechanism for necessary small schools, directing the Superintendent of Public Instruction to allocate equivalent per-pupil funding for their transitional kindergarten students.

The measure appropriates funds from California's General Fund to cover these new allocations, with amounts to be determined. These appropriations would count toward the state's minimum education funding requirements under Proposition 98. The bill's provisions take effect in the 2025-26 fiscal year and continue annually thereafter, creating an ongoing funding commitment for transitional kindergarten programs in these specialized educational settings.