By admin Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom celebrated the full implementation of universal transitional kindergarten and free school meals, among other statewide education reforms, Wednesday morning at Schafer Park Elementary School in Hayward, Calif.
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This academic year will mark the first in which TK is available to every child in California. This year, California public schools will also provide two free meals — breakfast and lunch — to every student.
“With these permanent funding supports, we’re building a California where every child has the opportunity to fulfill their human potential, no matter their ZIP code or how they learn,” Siebel Newsom said. “Together, we’re raising healthy, whole generations of future leaders here in California.”
Newsom and Siebel Newsom highlighted the California Community Schools Partnership Program, an initiative launched in 2022 that aims to “align community resources to improve student outcomes.” Community schools operate on a “whole-child” framework, working with families and community organizations to provide health and social services alongside traditional schooling.
Newsom has invested $4.1 billion in multi-year funding to bolster the program, which provides services like free meals before and after school, mental health support and clothing, among others.
“This is not about stacking services,” Newsom said. “This is a cultural change…We’ve been all over the state of California visiting community schools, and (seeing) how unique and distinctive each one is.”
Providing transition for 4-year-olds
Since its inception in 2012, TK has served children in public schools whose fifth birthday fell between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2. The program’s recent expansion will make TK programs available for all children who turn 4 by Sept. 1, eliminating an additional year of preschool costs for hundreds of thousands of families, according to Newsom.
According to Newsom, expansion of the community school model to younger students and more districts has led to long-term benefits, such as reductions in chronic absenteeism, declining suspension rates, higher graduation rates and more diverse student populations.
“All the key indicators and categories are moving in the right direction, despite those headwinds and the macro challenges that we face (from the Trump administration),” Newsom said.
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Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education, said education in California is undergoing a “renaissance” following an increase of over 70% in public school funding during Newsom’s time in office. The budget for fiscal year 2027-28 allocated a record-breaking $128 billion in funding to education.
$1 billion to fund community schools expansion
Assembly Bill 126, an education budget bill passed in July, includes an additional $1 billion in funding to codify and expand the community school model. The funding will allow the percentage of public schools classified as community schools to increase from approximately 20% to 60% in the coming years, Darling-Hammond said.
“We are providing not only universal meals for all kids…but healthcare, mental health providers, social services,” Darling-Hammond said. “We see the largest expansion of before- and after-school programs in summer school. We have a more robust program than any other state in the nation at this point.”
According to Newsom, Darling-Hammond’s research shows that one-time funding generates short-term success but fails to build lasting educational infrastructure. These findings, Newsom said, informed his decision to secure yearly funding for community schools.
“We started, yes, with one-time money for community schools. It was $150 million or so. It was nice, and it was wildly oversubscribed,” Newsom said. “This was the biggest focus of this year, an additional…commitment to institutionalize this.”
By adding universal TK to the community school program, Newsom said his administration aims to foster continued investment in early education. Newsom said early reading screening through the , which expands literacy and mathematics instruction, was a centerpiece of this effort.
“People aren’t left behind, they start behind,” Newsom said. “If you’re going to solve the issues in the vernacular — ignorance, poverty, disease — you’ve got to begin at the beginning.”
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