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This article was originally published by LAist

Enrollment at Los Angeles Unified School District’s preschools is up more than 10% since December.

It’s a significant jump for the public preschool system, which has struggled to fill its classrooms since the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of transitional kindergarten for 4-year-olds. The additions bring enrollment up from 70% to 82%.

District representatives say one big reason for the boost is a recent requirement that state preschools accept children even if they’re not potty-trained. LAUSD implemented that policy change in January, according to Dean Tagawa, executive director of LAUSD’s Early Childhood Education Division.

“ Certain schools are just full now, whereas [a few months ago] I’d have probably told you no school was full,” he said, noting that some schools now have waitlists.

He also attributed the bump to enrolling 2-year-olds, ramping up publicity, and programs naturally gaining more kids throughout the school year. Plus, LAUSD picked up families that were previously ineligible after LAUSD made the move to open enrollment for its early education centers to families of any income late last year.

No more potty-training requirement

In total, LAUSD’s preschool programs have around 14,000 seats for young children, according to Tagawa. The district runs 87 preschools for 2- to 4-year-olds called early education centers that are funded through the state. It also operates nearly 100 preschool classrooms on elementary school campuses using the same funding.

Xochitl Sanchez, the principal at Evergreen Early Education Center in Boyle Heights, said the center had just 73 students in October. Now it has 104.

“ Ever since we started accepting children who are not potty trained, our enrollment has increased tremendously,” Sanchez said. “I have been here for three years. I have never had this many students.”

Toilet training doesn’t have a standard timeline for each child, according to California’s Department of Education and guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children typically start learning how to use the toilet between 2 and 3 years old, and most kids — but not all — are trained by 4 years old.

“ As we started rolling this out, we’re seeing a lot more 2-year-olds coming in that would need potty training support,” Tagawa said. “Because being potty trained as a 2-year-old may or may not be developmentally appropriate.”

Tuition cap lifted

L.A.’s public preschool programs are an affordable option in a very expensive childcare landscape for parents. Tagawa said the most families will pay for the service is around $500 a month — which is far below the average. Many pay less than that, or nothing at all. As of last year, a family of four making $144,000 a year would pay around $93 a month.

Until recently, the district’s early education centers were only available for families under a certain income threshold. But the school district opened up spaces currently not being used by low-income families in December.

Since then, around 260 families over the previous income limits have enrolled at LAUSD preschools this year, Tagawa said.

“ It’s not as many as we thought, but it’s still some,” he said.

What needs to happen to fill those additional open seats?

Even with the boost in numbers, the district still has seats to fill. Around 2,500 slots remain open, according to the numbers LAUSD provided.

Tagawa said the district is focusing on ZIP codes where enrollment has been low, building out publicity by placing advertisements on buses and billboards, and canvassing in neighborhoods on the weekend. But he said that word-of-mouth is still the best way people learn about the preschools.

“Messaging is a big part of the challenge,” he said.

This article was originally published by LAist