As early childhood researchers, we’ve spent our careers steeped in an enormous body of work that documents the long-term positive impacts of quality early care and education on the lives of those fortunate enough to experience it. The pre-academic and social-emotional skills children develop in preschool—the ability to manage frustration, work with peers, ask for help, and recover from setbacks and disruptions—create the foundation upon which future school and life success is built.
Yet with all the research demonstrating the benefits of early education for those most in need—and there is plenty—access to quality preschool programs remains inequitable. Often, access depends on a family’s ability to pay for and transport their child to and from center-based programs—which can cost more than tuition at in-state public college—or whether they happen to live in one of the handful of cities and states that offer free or sliding-scale public preschool programs. To put it in perspective, even before the pandemic, just 34 percent of 4-year-olds and 6 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in public preschool...