Manteca Unified has not suffered from what some educators are calling a “post-pandemic hangover” that caused enrollment in kindergarten and transitional kindergarten to crater throughout California.

It likely wouldn’t have been the case if the school board — subjected to heated protests and threats of recall on almost a weekly basis and having to endure being shouted down at public meetings during the early days of the pandemic — had not stuck to a game plan to migrate back to in-person learning as soon as possible.

And they were able to do that due to their long-term pursuit of fiscal soundness that allowed the district to “borrow” money from internal reserves that was later backfilled by federal COVID-19 relief funds.

That allowed the district to purchase equipment and undertake minor remodeling critical to meeting state requirements for health safety measures before students could be allowed back into the classroom once health officials deemed the infection rates had dropped to a manageable point.

“The board decisions had an absolute impact,” noted Victoria Brunn, the district’s information officer.

Brunn said the board was committed to the goal of getting students back to in-person learning in the safest reasonable manner as soon as possible. Multiple year balanced budgets allowed the district to secure resources needed to successfully pursue that path.

“It was most critical to get the message out that in-person education is essential,” Brunn said. “If students are not attending school, we’re not relaying the right message.”

MSUD avoids big drop in

kindergarten enrollment

Enrollment in kindergarten and transitional kindergarten are not currently mandatory in California

Statewide at those two levels, enrollment dropped 10.1 percent between the pre-pandemic 2019-2020 school year and the 2019-2022 school year when most schools started returning to in-person learning.

In Manteca Unified, kindergarten enrollment was down just 0.5 percent for the same period going from 1,507 to 1,446.

Transitional kindergarten offered for 4 year-olds went from 255 to 221 during the same period for a 13 percent fall off.

Then in the following school year when the state Department of Education report combined kindergarten and TK together without separating them, enrollment statewide at the two grade levels was up 5 percent.

At the same time in Manteca Unified, TK went from 221 to 295 for almost a 35 percent increase while kindergarten dropped slightly from 1,503 to 1,467 for a 2 percent drop.

The current TK enrollment is 621 while kindergarten enrollment is at 1,523.

The bottom line is current TK enrollment is 111 percent higher than the last school year prior to the pandemic while kindergarten is up 2 percent over the same time period.

That is significantly better than statewide data reported by EdSource and the Associated Press.

And it is also beyond what other growing districts have experienced.

District leaders credit the difference to the school board’s  decision to prioritize a return to in-person learning by doubling down on needed safety protocol improvements required well in advance of most other districts by drawing on Manteca Unified’s balanced budget.

It allowed the district to secure a wide swath of needed equipment and supplies from portable air purifying units for every classroom and changing out water fountains to water bottle filling station to more muscular personal protection equipment.

They also benefitted from the timing of having been months away from launching the district’s own in-house online academy when the pandemic hit and the state mandated the switch to distance learning.

While most other districts were scrambling to start the basics of online learning on a massive scale, Manteca Unified’s financial situation allowed it to plug in equipment holes sooner. That allowed them to avoid — for the most part — the huge demand for computer equipment that swamped the chain supply.

And when the district started receiving $93 million in federal CIVID funds, they were able to divert it to learning recovery efforts instead of what some districts were doing that used a large chunk of the COVID funds plug holes in their budgets.

As such, Manteca Unified was able to take advantage of the first window allowed by state health officials to transition back to in-person learning. As such, it was the first school system to do so in San Joaquin County where some districts followed a month later and as much as six months to a year ahead of much of the rest of the state’s students.

Educators stress how

key kindergarten is

Deborah Stipek, a former dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, shared with the Associated Press that kindergarten is considered a crucial year for children to learn to follow directions, regulate behavior and get accustomed to learning.

Missing that year of school can put kids at a disadvantage, especially those from low-income families and families whose first language is not English, Stipek noted.

Stipek said children are sometimes behind in recognizing letters and counting to 10 even before starting school.

Parents interviewed said that due to COVID, they placed a lower emphasis on sending their children to kindergarten or transitional kindergarten.

It was partially out of concern for possible infections.

During the time of  online learning, a number of parents opted not to even try remote learning.

Childcare also has been a problem given kindergarten and TK are half day sessions.

Brunn said the district understood the significance of early learning opportunities being pivotal for families, as the experiences can profoundly shape a student's educational journey.

As the district began universal TK plans in 2021 to meet a pending state mandate, one of the first priorities was creating an effective communication plan to reach the community explaining what Universal Transitional Kindergarten is and why it’s so important.

Once the communication plan was drafted, the district developed a platform for families/community members to gain an understanding of UTK, how MUSD will provide UTK at pilot sites, and how to access registration procedures and guidelines relating to UTK on the MUSD website.

They also created mailers sent out to targeted communities, implemented a social media campaign that highlighted distinct messaging, provided school-readiness incentive kits to families who enrolled early, and pitched media releases to the Bulletin highlighting the start of Universal TK programming.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com