California's hottest new student recruits? 4-year-olds

Hundreds of school banners, bus bench promos and billboards, not to mention high-volume text and robo-call campaigns, are inundating parents of California's youngest students this summer as 4-year-olds have suddenly become the hottest recruits in California.

Last year's lackluster launch of the state's free transitional kindergarten expansion has propelled school districts into high gear this summer, ramping up efforts to entice the families of California's estimated 449,070 4-year-olds to enroll their children in public schools.

The opening of this new grade level has spurred seismic shifts in the state's complex child care landscape — and leading up to fall school reopenings, intense competition for the state's youngest students has erupted between public school districts and the day-care industry.

"If I were a 4-year-old, I would ask for a signing bonus," said Bruce Fuller, a UC Berkeley professor of education and public policy.

For day-care businesses, the loss of their most lucrative children represents an existential threat because their operations often depend on collecting tuition from more 4-year-olds to subsidize losses from fewer but costlier and resource-needy toddlers and babies.

For school districts, TK, as transitional kindergarten is commonly called, is an opportunity to offer high-quality preschool, which can give children a significant