Early Education

If your child turns 5 by April 2, 2024, they can enroll in our free, full day transitional kindergarten program for the 2023-2024 school year.

Transitional Kindergarten bridges the path between preschool and kindergarten and gives students the time to build a strong foundation for school success. It blends social and emotional experiences with academic learning, so students not only learn essential skills, but also develop the peer-to-peer social and self-regulation skills needed to succeed in school and life.

Please visit the enrollment page on this website; it can be found at this link.

Once you have navigated to that page, please scroll down the page and find our three-step enrollment process. It includes a list of documents you will need to complete enrollment.

Once you have gathered those documents, you may complete enrollment online (you may use the link on the enrollment page, or simply use the "Apply Below" button on this page to navigate to the correct page). After completing the online enrollment,  you must submit a printed confirmation of online enrollment and the following supporting documents in person:

• Printed Confirmation of Online Enrollment;
• Student's Age Validation: Original Birth Certificate or Valid Passport;
• Student's Current Immunization Records: in any format including online;
• Parent/Guardian Identification: Please provide a valid Driver's License or state-issued ID'
• IEP or 504 Plan, if applicable;
• Verification of Address

You may submit the paperwork you are required to provide in person at the front office of your school of residence (i.e., your home school) or at any of our school sites. Please make an appointment to do so.

You may find a list of our schools, as well as their phone numbers, at this link on our website.

If you need additional support in completing the enrollment process for Transitional Kindergarten, our Family Resource Center staff has a schedule to help meet your needs.

The schedule for Family Resource Center assistance is below. Please note you must make an appointment to receive in-person enrollment assistance.

In addition, the Family Resource Center staff will be available to assist with TK enrollment during the summer. You may view that schedule via this link; we ask that you make an appointment in order to secure a time that works best for you.

Transitional Kindergarten is offered at each of our fourteen school sites, as well as our Salinas City Virtual Academy, and students are enrolled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The standards, curriculum and teaching requirements in TK are different than preschool. The TK standards are based on the Kindergarten standards; however, the curriculum is modified to meet the academic and social- emotional needs of younger children.

It is strongly encouraged that your child be toilet trained before beginning Transitional Kindergarten.

Five-year-old children are age-eligible to enroll in Kindergarten and therefore will not be offered enrollment in TK. 

If parents/guardians feel their child would benefit from another year of Kindergarten, they should consult with their school's principal and their child's teacher. If, in collaboration with those parties, it is decided a child will benefit from a second year of Kindergarten, they may request a Kindergarten Continuance, which means that their child will have two years of Kindergarten.