California's Preschool Quality Falls Short

0:00California is pushing hard to get more kids into preschool, but a fresh report says quality's falling short. In the 2024-25 school year, the state served 278,000 kids through transitional kindergarten for four, and the ways, and the ways, and four year olds, and the state preschool program for lower income families. That's up more than 25,000 from last year. Transitional kindergarten only hit three out of ten quality benchmarks, like class sizes and teacher training, while the state preschool program. Reach six out of ten. Meanwhile, Georgia and five other states nailed all ten. Experts warned that without top-notch programs, kids won't get the lasting boosts in learning and skills that save taxpayers money down the line. California poured billions into rolling out transitional kindergarten for all four year olds this fall. But there's still no solid plan to check it's quality. The latest numbers show transitional kindergarten enrollment, jumped 20% the school year, building on that growth.

1:02As the state keeps expanding access, fixing these quality gaps can make all the difference for the next generation. That's your update from California News Today, powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story.