By Sara Beth Williams–
Another private preschool has closed in Citrus Heights due to lack of enrollment stemming from the state’s universal TK program rollout and lifestyle changes following COVID.
Little Friends Learning Center, located at Friends Church in Citrus Heights, closed its doors permanently on April 30 after 50 years of service to the community, said Terri Shaffer, board chair for Little Friends Learning Center.
The decision to close was made due to the lack of enrollment as the state age requirements for children entering transitional kindergarten have rolled back farther and farther each year.
With younger age requirements for classes in the public-school setting, parents now have the option of sending their child to TK, which doesn’t cost anything, instead of sending them to a preschool, which can cost families hundreds of dollars per child per month.
This school year, to qualify for transitional kindergarten, children must turn four years old on or before Sept. 1, the San Juan Unified School District’s website shows. Students technically then can potentially enter TK at three years old, as the school year began on Aug. 13.
In the 2024-2025 school year, to be eligible for TK, students had to turn five years old between Sept. 2, 2024. and June 4, 2025.
This year, the district has added multiple TK classrooms across the district, including four in Citrus Heights schools, to accommodate the expected enrollment increase.
“It was very bittersweet,” Shaffer said of the school closure, adding that parents and staff were “stunned” and disappointed.
In spite of the bittersweet feelings, Shaffer remained positive and added that it was time to close, and that things have worked out for good.
Shaffer’s son and grandchildren attended the learning center, and the school provided a needed service for young families in the community for a long time.
The church is now able to utilize the classrooms for church-related activates, she said.
Just one year ago, another private preschool which operated out of Lutheran Church of the Ascension on Garden Gate Drive in Citrus Heights, also closed as of Aug. 8, 2025, according to the preschool’s website. At the time in 2025, staff at the church declined to comment to media.
Ten months later, longtime Ascension Christian Preschool teacher Justin Carballar, shed some light on the closure, echoing Shaffer.
Carballar, who taught mostly three-year-old children for 27 years, said the universal transitional kindergarten program through the state has contributed to the lack of enrollment. As well, since 2020, Ascension Christian Preschool had dealt with low enrollment numbers due to COVID and pandemic restrictions and families simply not returning due to their child aging out or continuing to work remotely.
Shaffer said while the pandemic didn’t severely damage the preschool, it did impact enrollment numbers, and the preschool was not able to fully recover with families continuing to work remotely.
Shaffer added that even with the state’s mandate that state workers return to work in offices, enrollment did not increase as the preschool had hoped it would.
Ascension Christian Preschool, like Little Friends Learning Center, offered daycare and preschool for children from two years and nine months through five years old, including a transitional kindergarten program. Carballar said helping with potty training was common practice as well.
Carballar said the preschool sold all of the toys, equipment and materials in a large yard sale and that the experience was “so sad.” Ascension Christian Preschool operated in Citrus Heights for four decades.
Little Friends Learning Center will be having a large toy sale at the end of August, according to the church. Sale dates are scheduled for Aug. 28 from 12 to 4 p.m. and Aug. 29 from 10 to 2 p.m.
Citrus Heights Preschool, another privately owned preschool located on Old Auburn Road, also closed abruptly in the spring of 2024, after having operated in the city for 50 years.
