by Aspen Ford, Washington State Standard
April 16, 2026
An early learning program designed to prepare children in Washington for kindergarten will soon shrink by nearly 2,000 slots due to cuts state lawmakers approved earlier this year.
The state’s top schools official is slamming Democrats in the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson over the move, which will chop funding for the Transition to Kindergarten programs by 25%. Local school officials are frustrated, too, saying the program performs well and fills a critical gap in the education system.
Ferguson proposed slashing the program in the spending plan he put out late last year. And the budget he signed into law earlier this month will reduce it by $27 million.
“In my 30 years in education, I have never seen a more ill-advised and damaging cut to education funding,” said state Superintendent Chris Reykdal. “School districts are struggling to understand why a successful, evidence-informed program was targeted by the Democratic majorities.”
“Everyone, for decades, has talked about the lack of access to early learning for 3- and 4-year-olds,” he added.
Transition to Kindergarten is run through school districts. It serves just over 7,000 students who have gone through a screening process to confirm that they would benefit from additional preparation before going to kindergarten. Students from low-income families are prioritized for enrollment.
Reykdal said there’s no question that the cuts will lead to more budget problems for schools, with very few having the capacity to raise local levies that could make up for the lost funding.
Superintendents across the state are preparing to cut teachers and seats for students.
Northwest of Spokane, the Nine Mile Falls School District had a kindergarten readiness score 35% below the state average during the 2022-23 school year. Two years after the district launched its Transition to Kindergarten program, the readiness score is 2% above the average.
“The return on investment in early childhood is so much better than it is when you’re trying to provide those interventions when they are in late elementary, middle school, high school,” said Jeff Baerwald, superintendent for Nine Mile Falls.
Baerwald, whose district will lose 25 Transition to Kindergarten spots due to the cuts, acknowledged the short-term savings for the state. But he added, “It’s pay now or pay later.”
As for other early learning programs in the district, they don’t exist, he said. The one other local preschool is shutting down this year, forcing parents to drive to other areas for pre-K programs.
Reykdal suggested that one reason why the Legislature cut the program could be that it was seen as a threat to small businesses that run in-home care services through the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. That program serves around 14,000 students.
“It wasn’t about a quality difference. It was a business ideology,” said Reykdal.
The state received a $170 million philanthropic donation from the Ballmer Group in November to fund the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. The donation was made on the condition that the state not make further cuts to that program.
Baerwald said educators knew that arrangement would cause the state to look at Transition to Kindergarten for cuts, they just didn’t know how much.
Ferguson’s budget plan, issued in December, called for eliminating about 1,800 Transition to Kindergarten slots starting in the 2026-27 school year, for a savings of $19.5 million.
The Senate proposed cutting the program by $30 million. The House, by nearly $19 million. The two chambers settled on $27 million for the current budget cycle, which runs through June next year.
The Nine Mile Falls School District also has an Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, but “there’s a difference of the quality that kids are getting,” Baerwald said.
He explained that, unlike Transition to Kindergarten, Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program educators are not certified teachers.
“They’re folks with two-year degrees, not with a four-year degree in early childhood learning,” he said.
In Washington, 70% of Transition to Kindergarten teachers hold a master’s degree, said Katy Payne, chief strategy officer for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Reykdal said the program showed clear signs of successful results and argues the cut was purely about saving money.
“Across high poverty, across students with disabilities, across everything we can see, it better prepares kids,” he said. “The data was clear.”
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