In the 2024 to 2025 school year, overall student enrollment declined by 0.54 percent compared to the year prior, representing a slowing of declining school enrollment. Image by febrian eka saputra from Pixabay

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (MPG) – On May 21, the California Department of Education released 2024 to 2025 school enrollment data on DataQuest (https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/), showing that the decline in public school enrollment has begun to slow.

While the overall decrease in school enrollment compared to pre-pandemic levels continues to be a source of strain on public schools, new initiatives such as transitional kindergarten (TK) show significant growth and signs of promise as local educational agencies (LEAs) work to reengage families, especially as California’s families experience increased economic hardship.

“The overall slowing enrollment decline is encouraging and reflects the hard work of our local educational agencies across the state,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. “While we have more work to do, the dramatic growth in transitional kindergarten is inspiring and shows that providing rigorous and quality programs can be a key ingredient to bringing more families back to our schools. One of our initiatives in this area is expansion of Dual Language Immersion programs as a strategy to drive future enrollment growth by providing school programs that are in high demand from California’s families.”

In the 2024 to 2025 school year, overall student enrollment declined by 0.54 percent compared to the year prior, representing a slowing of declining school enrollment. Though the change from the prior school year is minimal, the difference between current year enrollment and pre-pandemic enrollment remains significant.

The most significant trend in California’s 2024 to 2025 school enrollment data reflects an increased demand for specific education initiatives, such as transitional kindergarten.

Even as overall enrollment has fallen, transitional kindergarten enrollment continues to boom, with a year-over-year increase of 17.2 percent. The number of local educational agencies offering Transitional Kindergarten (TK) at all school sites has increased to 85 percent, and as transitional kindergarten expansion creates more spaces in state preschool, enrollment of 3-year-olds in state preschool continues to rise. Overall, more and more families are taking advantage of public opportunities for early learning.

This growth in preschool and transitional kindergarten shows that directly responding to California families’ enthusiasm for specific educational initiatives is a strong path to reengaging families in schools.

Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs have shown significant growth statewide: as of 2023 to 2024, there were 1,036 Dual Language Immersion programs in California, a 39-percent increase from 747 Dual Language Immersion programs in 2018 to 2019.

Recent local data shows that Expanded Learning program expansion mirrors trends in transitional kindergarten and dual language immersion expansion: as the number of seats increases, they are filled. In Elk Grove Unified, broadened access to Expanded Learning programs has increased program enrollment from 3,300 to 12,000, a 264- percent increase.

These data points offer insights into in-demand educational initiatives and a potential path to reversing long-term school enrollment trends.

More information about Superintendent Thurmond’s initiatives can be found on the California Department of Education Initiatives web page at cde.ca.gov/eo/in/. Another webinar about California’s dual language immersion expansion is scheduled at 2 p.m. June 3 and can be viewed on the California Department of Education Facebook page at facebook.com/CAEducation. For more information on Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) and transitional kindergarten, see Universal Pre-Kindergarten frequently asked questions and transitional kindergarten frequently asked questions on the California Department of Education website. Transitional kindergarten is a core component of the Universal Pre-Kindergarten program. It enrolls students in the first year of a two-year kindergarten program, using a modified kindergarten curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate.