Desperate for day care: How empty TK-12 classrooms can help fix California’s child-care crisis

Declining enrollment in California public schools is spawning a new and growing partnership that is helping to keep child-care centers in business — vacant classrooms are being filled with toddlers and babies.

From Los Angeles to Solano counties, nonprofit day-care operators see underused facilities already centered on children — spacious blacktops with ample room for portables, empty classrooms and even entire closed campuses — as a way to expand services to families desperate for infant and toddler care, the 0-3 age group in which there are critical shortages of slots in California.

School districts, looking for ways to keep neighborhood campuses open amid dwindling enrollment, see future students in the little ones on site — and an opportunity to build family loyalty without having to operate the programs themselves.

“The school, it’s a very trusted place for the communities,” Early Edge Executive Director Patricia Lozano said. “If we can add all these elements … I think it’s just making it more accessible.”

Recently, centers have completely taken over two campuses in San José and Vallejo. Another is expected to open soon at a vacant East Palo Alto campus. Nonprofits operating within existing school sites have also continued to expand. One organization based in the San Gabriel Valley has expanded its child-care program to more than a hundred elementary schools over the years, recently opened three more classrooms and will continue to grow as districts signal a need.

Los Angeles Unified — confronted with possible school closures amid enrollment drops and fiscal woes — is poised to amplify the trend with its recently approved plan to expand its early education footprint through partnerships with local child-care organizations and a desire to capture families by offering hard-to-find infant and toddler care.

“The district gains more kids, [and] community-based preschools preserve their services,” UC Berkeley professor emeritus Bruce Fuller said. “It can be a win‑win.”

Adapting public schools for infants and toddlers

In one corner of Park Elementary School in the Alhambra Unified School District, the shrieks of 3- and 4-year-olds rise from the playground. Preschoolers run across the grass, their play area divided by a silver chain-link fence from the rest of the campus.

They’re part of a program run by Options for Learning, which operates infant, toddler and preschool classrooms in more than 160 schools across the San Gabriel Valley and other regions of L.A. County.

A child rides a tricycle during outdoor playtime at Options for Learning’s location on the Park Elementary campus in Alhambra. A chain-link fence divides the preschool from the rest of the campus.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

For the nonprofit, which pioneered the concept years ago, understanding the community need is vital and programming varies widely across its 19 school district partners. Some centers welcome preschoolers; others accept toddlers too. After-school programs geared toward transitional kindergarten or elementary school students can also be important for a neighborhood.

Some schools have required the organization to install portable classrooms — which can cost up to $500,000 — while other campuses offer an empty room due to dwindling enrollment, often costing up to $300 in rent. Monthly operating costs are $27,000 per classroom, including teacher salaries, utilities and insurance.

Opening early learning classrooms on school campuses also provides continuity of care for young families who can build a sense of community.

“That’s the best model, right?” said Tracy Lynch, Options for Learning’s chief program officer. “When we have all walks of life in one setting learning and growing together.”

The ability for the district to learn how to cater to younger children helps stave off some of the “negative competitive tension,” when it comes time for families to choose where to send their 4-year-olds, Fuller said.

Although transforming a classroom — or entire campus — into a day-care site can be a costly and extensive process, nonprofits are mustering the bandwidth to raise money, while also depending on state and federal dollars to fund the seats and some of the necessary renovation.

Children play “Duck, Duck, Goose” with teacher Sylvia Loera at Park Preschool in Alhambra.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Classrooms must meet state licensing requirements and include low sinks, tiny toilets and a minimum of two exits — compared with a TK-12 classroom that needs just one. And each age group requires an appropriate outdoor play area.

For six months, Kidango staff worked to renovate Toyon Early Learning Center in San José for the launch of its first classrooms in March. Renovations continue as the campus slowly readies more classrooms.

At Toyon, carpet was replaced with rugs and easy-to-clean linoleum floors. Monkey bars gave way to sensory tables and mud kitchens. The nonprofit is operating eight classrooms, which are expected to hit capacity at the beginning of August, serving 150 children. The goal is to eventually expand to 13 classrooms, said center director Yesenia Rivas-Bejarano.

Conversations over community need versus available space led Kidango to experiment with growing its public-school-based approach, said Scott Moore, chief executive of the nonprofit.

Both Alum Rock and Berryessa union school districts, which house Kidango early learning campuses, have struggled with declining enrollment. Alum Rock Union enrolls less than half of the students of its peak years in the early 2000s, and a $20-million budget shortfall in the 2024-25 school year resulted in multiple school closures and consolidations. Berryessa Union has lost nearly a quarter of its students over the last decade, leaving a $6-million budget deficit.

Kidango began moving into Alum Rock Union in 2003 and then Berryessa Union in 2025 — before taking over entire campuses in both districts.

“One of the hardest things to afford is child care for young kids,” Moore said, adding that making more slots available has allowed families to remain in costly regions such as San José, where child-care access can be scarce.

Weathering the changing child-care landscape

In California, roughly 1,100 nonprofit preschools have closed since 2021, according to UC Berkeley research. Just over 500 of those were located in L.A. County. The transitional kindergarten growth has siphoned more lucrative 4-year-olds from their sites — as babies and toddlers require higher staff ratios and more intense care — putting even more centers at risk of closing, research showed.

Even with the ongoing transition, there are not enough child-care slots to care for all of the toddlers and infants who need it. According to Fuller’s research, no more than a third of parents raising a 3-year-old can find an open slot in any form of preschool in California. Access remains even more scarce among younger children.

At Rise Vallejo, which took over Vallejo City Unified’s Beverly Hills Elementary, nonprofit Child Start, Inc., First 5 Solano and the Solano County Office of Education operate a centralized child-care hub, with some classrooms run by former home child-care providers and Head Start and Early Head Start classes run by Child Start.

Roughly 100 students are enrolled in the eight classrooms that have opened since April, according to Juan Cisneros, executive director of Child Start. Seven more classrooms remain to be opened and could perhaps be ready later in August as licensing approval finishes for the last providers.

Each provider has a memorandum of understanding with Child Start, which owns the school campus. They each pay their share of operational costs based on the number of classrooms they operate, which are charged at a monthly rate that is reevaluated each year and includes maintenance, custodial services, utilities and other indirect costs. The setup saves them roughly half of overall costs, according to Cisneros.

A child wearing a stethoscope checks on a stuffed dog at Options for Learning’s Park location in Alhambra.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The opening of Rise Vallejo ultimately cost $20 million, including the purchase and renovation of the site. It took roughly three years to acquire the site and begin to open the classrooms.

Vallejo City Unified board Trustee John Fox said the district was pleased to see the former school campus repurposed for early childhood, providing a much-needed service.

Partners relied on federal, state, county and city funding and grants and sought private donations in an effort spearheaded by First 5 Solano.

“We just didn’t take no for an answer because we believed in it,” said Lisette Estrella-Henderson, the First 5 Solano commission chair and former Solano County Superintendent of Schools.

This article is part of The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children, from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.