This bill amends RCW 28A.300.072 to rename "transitional kindergarten" as the "transition to kindergarten program," establishes program requirements and reporting, and appropriates state funding specifically to support the program. It provides $16,216,000 from the state general fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and $4,709,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, to OSPI to allocate to school districts, certain charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools as payment during the 2024-25 school year for the transition to kindergarten program. The bill creates or modifies statutory program rules and procedures rather than creating a criminal penalty: it requires OSPI to administer the program, adopt initial rules under chapter 34.05 RCW in time for the 2023-24 school year and permanent rules by the beginning of the 2024-25 school year; it sets eligibility (children at least four years old by August 31 who are determined to benefit from additional preparation), enrollment priorities, assessment and data reporting (including use of the Washington kindergarten inventory of developing skills and statewide student identifiers), site readiness and curriculum guidelines, a prohibition on charging tuition for state-funded eligible children, nondiscrimination for disabilities, and local needs assessment and technical assistance requirements. Funding is treated as separate from the state's statutory program of basic education, must be spent only to operate the program, is calculated using specified funding distribution formulas and FTE counts (counting a transition to kindergarten child as a kindergarten student for those calculations while requiring separate reporting), and includes a cap that beginning in 2025-26 each program’s annual average FTE enrollment may not exceed its 2024-25 annual average FTE enrollment. The bill also specifies that certain charter schools may operate the program immediately or beginning in 2025-26, allows blending or colocating the program with other early learning programs, and assigns implementation roles to OSPI and DCYF. Important implementation details are not included here: the text references rule deadlines that appear to predate the appropriations, cites distribution formulas without showing calculation mechanics, and relies on 2024-25 enrollment figures that are not provided in these facts.

The bill delivers one-time state payments to start and run a renamed "transition to kindergarten" program by providing $16,216,000 for the 2024-25 school year and $4,709,000 for 2025-26 through OSPI to school districts, certain charter schools, and state-tribal compact schools. In practice this means participating schools will have dedicated money to operate these classes (and may not charge tuition to children the state funds), OSPI must set rules and support sites, programs must use specific assessments and reporting, and starting in 2025-26 no program can receive state funding for more students than it enrolled on average in 2024-25. Those most affected are school districts, the specified charter and compact schools, OSPI, and DCYF: districts and eligible charter/compact schools gain short-term state operating funds and new program responsibilities (rules, outreach, entry/exit assessments, local needs assessments before expanding), while OSPI must adopt and enforce rules and provide technical assistance. The practical limits are that funding is separate from basic education dollars and must be spent only on the program, expansion is constrained by the enrollment cap beginning 2025-26, and key details about how per-student amounts are calculated and what the 2024-25 enrollment baselines are are not provided in these facts.