Universal Preschool: Much to Gain but Who Will Pay?

Among experts in child development and early education, there seems to be increasing agreement that three and four-year-olds gain from being in a stimulating environment with other children. This paper begins with the assumption that this premise is correct: children across the full spectrum of family income, family composition, and prior experience with child care would gain from being in a well-implemented preschool at ages three and four. Our focus is on finding a feasible way to finance universal preschool. As such, our target is the financing of universal preschool for children of age four. If successful, such a plan could eventually be extended to three-year-olds.

We begin with a brief discussion of the relationship between preschool, preschool quality and developmental outcomes. We then provide background on the current situation in the United States, followed by a detailed consideration of state-financed pre-kindergarten programs (Pre-K). We follow by describing early childhood education (ECE) programs in other industrialized countries. We then focus on possible financing approaches, first focusing on a variety of proposals designed to improve access to and quality of ECE in the U.S. Finally, we present our proposal for financing universal preschool for four year-olds in the United States.