Opinion: As students go back to school and Senate goes back to session, it’s time for universal pre-K – By Peshe Kuriloff, retired professor of education at Temple University (NBC News) / January 3, 2022
President Joe Biden can salvage the Build Back Better safety net agenda by focusing on popular priorities. Government-funded preschool should top the list.
The Senate returns Monday to try to salvage President Joe Biden’s signature safety net bill, the Build Back Better Act, after Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a fellow Democrat, said he would withhold his vote. That means the Democrats lack a majority to pass the bill, butthe White House is insisting it will still find ways to advance its domestic agenda.
Instead of continuing to push the sweeping $2 trillion plan, some elected officials and policymakers are suggesting that Biden focus on a piece-by-piece strategy, which would require the administration to set priorities as it chooses which components of the Build Back Better bill to try to push through. Federal funding for universal pre-K should be at the top of the list.
All Americans pay taxes at the local, state and federal levels to fund the requirement that children attend school. Government-funded pre-K completely adheres to that precedent.
Evidence shows that kids benefit from early childhood education, and more and more middle-class families depend on preschool for parents to work. But only some states have risen to the challenge of paying for early education — and, even then, only for some children.
