Forty-two states now offer free or subsidized preschool, and enrollment has swelled to 750,000 children, according to a recent study by the Children's Defense Fund, an advocacy group. While many of these programs are aimed at poor children, a few states are following Georgia's lead, opening them to all children, regardless of income or neighborhood. Oklahoma and New York are among those starting to make preschool universally available. New Jersey has the ambitious goal of enrolling 44,000 of its poorest children in preschools, and state officials say the program will continue to grow. It will give them a firm foundation that allows them to be successful in school and, ultimately, in life.
Parents often wait hours to register.
For years now, the federal government has subsidized prekindergarten education for economically disadvantaged children through programs such as Head Start. But the funding covers only a portion of those eligible, and parents with moderate or above-average incomes have had to pay for private preschools or keep their children home until kindergarten. The preschool issue also has caught the attention of the presidential candidates. Preschool programs are costly, as even their supporters admit. Some critics say the programs force taxpayers to foot the bill for working parents to have free child care, while others point to research suggesting that benefits of preschool fade in a few years.