Transitional kindergarten

What It Means

Transitional kindergarten (TK) is a California public schoolPublic schoolA school run by publicly elected or appointed officials and paid for mainly with public money, including district, charter and magnet schools. See more program, and the California Department of Education (CDE) calls it the first year of a two-year kindergarten program. Since the 2025-26 school year, every district must offer TK, at no cost, to every child who turns 4 by September 1 of that school year and wants to enroll. The name and the rules on this page are California's, so families in other states should ask their own state education department what it offers 4-year-olds.

How Parents Say It

• "He has a July birthday, so he's in TK this year."
• "Is TK free like kindergarten?"
• "Do we sign up for TK at the elementary school?"

The Breakdown

Worked example for the 2026-27 school year (example birth dates, CDE's September 1 rule)

What the result means. A child who turns 4 on or before September 1 can enroll in TK for the school year that starts that fall, and the district has to offer a seat. A child who turns 4 later waits for the next school year. The calculator counts whole months, so a birthday on September 1 reads as exactly 4.

TK and pre-KPre-KPrekindergarten: school-readiness classes for children, typically 3 and 4 years old, in the year or two before they start kindergarten. See more. CDE groups TK under its Universal PreKindergarten work, and describes it as the first of two kindergarten years, offered by school districts. Pre-K is a broader name for programs before kindergarten, offered by schools, Head Start and others, and Buhata's pre-K page covers it.

Good to Know

Enroll through your local school district, which sets its own registration dates. Buhata's suggestion: ask when TK enrollment opens well before summer, so the paperwork isn't rushed. California's Department of Public Health lists the immunizations required for TK to 12th grade, so check your child's records against its page before registration. If you live outside California, the age rule here doesn't apply; use your state's rules for pre-K and kindergarten.

Related Terms and Categories

• Pre-K

  Prekindergarten: school-readiness classes for children, typically 3 and 4 years old, in the year or two before they start kindergarten.

• Kindergarten registration

  Enrolling your child in kindergarten with the school district, usually by showing proof of age, proof of residence and immunization records before the school year.

• Kindergarten readiness

  How prepared a child is for kindergarten, in social, emotional, language, thinking and physical skills, alongside meeting their state's entry age.

• Preschooler

  A child from 3 to 5 years old, the age band the CDC uses for its preschool parenting guidance.

• Academic redshirting

  Choosing to start a child in kindergarten a year after they first become old enough, usually to give a young child more time to grow.

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