Mill Valley School District extends transitional kindergarten

After months of debate and a fundraising drive by parents, the Mill Valley School District has approved a one-year extension for the transitional kindergarten program that was slated for elimination.

The district board voted unanimously on the move at a special meeting Tuesday.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring back this much-loved and successful program for one more year and grateful for our community’s support to make this happen,” said Elizabeth Kaufman, the district’s superintendent.

Kaufman said funding for the $2.2 million program will include about $1.5 million raised by parents in the two months since the program was targeted for elimination. The district will close the remaining $700,000 gap by trimming staff extra-duty assignments, routine maintenance and technology replacement.

In a statement, leaders of the nonprofit Early Education Marin, a group of parents that raised the money to preserve the program, called the board’s action “a vote for the importance of equitable public early childhood education.”

“It provides a huge relief for parents of incoming TKers,” the statement said.

Transitional kindergarten is a public school program for 4-year-olds to prepare them for kindergarten at age 5. In recent years, the Mill Valley program has included about 150 children attending 11 classes in the district’s five elementary schools.

Eleven teachers and 11 teaching aides were slated for layoffs if the program were eliminated.

Kaufman said registration for transitional kindergarten is open until May 2. To be eligible, the applicant’s fourth birthday must arrive by Sept. 1.

Registration details are available online at mvschools.org/Page/8716

District officials and parents said they will work together over the next year to see what funds might be available to continue the program.

“A one-year extension is not a permanent fix, so we intend to continue our advocacy efforts to encourage the state to provide funding for TK to basic aid districts, such as MVSD,” Kaufman said. “We encourage our community to remain engaged through our website.”

The California Department of Education, which has mandated transitional kindergarten for all public school districts, has not allotted extra funds for basic aid districts like Mill Valley. Such districts are community-funded by property taxes.

School districts that are funded by per-student state subsidies, such as the Novato Unified School District and the San Rafael Elementary School District, receive extra subsidies for transitional kindergarten.

John Carroll, the Marin County superintendent of schools, said he is “very happy to know that Mill Valley’s youngest students and their families can look forward to transitional kindergarten in the future.”

Carroll had warned the district that it could face state penalties by dropping the program.

“I am delighted that the Mill Valley School District has chosen to comply with that mandate,” he said.

Two other basic aid districts in Marin do not run transitional kindergarten programs. The Ross School District contracts with the Ross Valley School District. The Larkspur-Corte Madera School District has said the program is too costly to offer without state funding.