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Obama Visits Georgia to Rally Support for Preschool Plan
Conservatives Skeptical Of Expanding Preschool
(about 5 hours later)
ATLANTA — President Obama began to rally political support on Thursday for a nationwide expansion of early education when he visited a Georgia classroom of 4-year-olds and pushed for a plan that could cost as much as $10 billion a year.
ATLANTA — President Obama’s plan to expand preschool for the nation’s children faces deep skepticism among Republicans, who fear the creation of another federal entitlement program that they say could add to the nation’s deficit and swell the ranks of the teachers’ unions.
Mr. Obama pledged in his State of the Union address this week to make high-quality preschool available to “every single child in America” — a costly and controversial proposal that is already running into opposition as Washington grapples with how to reduce the nation’s deficit.
In a rally with teachers after visiting a class of 4-year-olds on Thursday, Mr. Obama reiterated his State of the Union pledge to make high-quality preschool available to all children, which could cost as much as $10 billion a year, or nearly a tenth of the entire federal education budget.
The plan, as described by administration officials, would seek to sharply expand the universe of children who attend school before kindergarten. Federal money — perhaps as much as $10 billion per year — would be used primarily to make preschool classes available for more low- and moderate-income children.
“Hope is found in what works,” Mr. Obama said to raucous applause after joining the children as they played with blocks and a magnifying glass. “This works. We know it works. If you are looking for a good bang for your educational buck, this is it. Right here.”
By comparison, the federal government spent about $108 billion last year on all federal education programs, according to Jason Delisle of the New America Foundation. That figure includes Education Department grants, Head Start and student loan subsidies, among other programs.
Despite the outlines of a plan that White House officials said would use federal money in support of state-based preschool programs, conservatives said they were suspicious that it would be a foot in the door toward more big government. They also said there was little evidence that large-scale preschool programs do much good for children in the long run. Advocates, who said that quality preschool education makes a significant difference in children’s lives, were bracing for a fight in Congress.
“In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own,” Mr. Obama said in his address on Tuesday. “We know this works.”
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Andrew J. Coulson, the director of the center for educational freedom at the Cato Institute, a libertarian group. “Why would you want to very expensively expand the programs like this if the evidence of effectiveness is not really sound?”
Aides said federal money would be offered as an incentive for states to expand their own preschool programs, not to create a large, new federal system of education. The federal Head Start program, which offers preschool for very poor children, would continue as is, they said.
Mr. Coulson said the president’s preschool plan appeared to require highly paid preschool teachers and that Mr. Obama wanted to expand “a very strong, very consistently supportive constituency.”
Officials said the state preschool programs would have to meet rigorous standards, have highly qualified teachers and submit to assessment programs. Teachers would have to be paid comparably to kindergarten teaches and class sizes would be limited.
“He’s boosting his own political base,” he said.
Mr. Obama’s plan also would avoid one of the thorniest political challenges facing universal preschool proposals: the use of scarce resources to provide early educational services to children who come from wealthy families. That prospect has scuttled some state efforts.
Republicans on Capitol Hill said they were waiting for more details before making a final judgment, but senior aides in the Republican-controlled House expressed concerns about the scope of the program, its quality controls and the criteria for participation.
But the plan still faces deep skepticism among conservative academics and Republicans in Congress, who insist that despite Mr. Obama’s rosy descriptions, there is little scientific evidence that large-scale preschool programs do much good for children in the long run.
“Countless early-childhood programs already exist at the state and federal levels,” Representative John Kline, Republican of Minnesota, said in a statement. “The president needs to explain how this program will be different,” added Mr. Kline, the chairman of the House committee on education and the work force. “These are important questions that won’t be answered at a campaign-style rally.”
“I do expect it to run into some serious headwinds,” said Andrew J. Coulson, the director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, a right-leaning research organization. “Why would you want to very expensively expand the programs like this if the evidence of effectiveness is not really sound.”
Mr. Obama gave few details of his plan to dramatically expand access to what he called “high-quality early education,” although he cited preschools in Georgia as an example of the kind of long-term benefits for children taught at an early age by a qualified teacher.
House Speaker John A. Boehner quickly dismissed the idea on Wednesday, telling The Associated Press that getting the federal government more involved in early education is “a good way to screw it up.”
“Study after study shows that the earlier a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road,” Mr. Obama said. “We are not doing enough to give all of our kids that chance.”
The president is betting that the public will pressure lawmakers to support preschool efforts that have been embraced in some of the most politically conservative states. Oklahoma and Georgia have Republican governors and were won by Mitt Romney in last year’s election. But both states have expanded their preschool programs in recent years.
White House officials declined to discuss how much Mr. Obama’s proposals would cost. They said those details would be released with the president’s budget in the coming weeks. Cecilia Muñoz, the president’s domestic policy adviser, insisted the proposal would not add to the deficit.
In addition, White House officials and child care advocates noted that Govs. Rick Snyder of Michigan and Mike Pence of Indiana, both Republicans, have talked about the need for better early education efforts.
“What we are talking about here is a partnership with the states,” Ms. Muñoz said. “To suggest that this is an entitlement program is just completely inaccurate.”
“If you look at how pre-k has grown, you see a range of different governors supporting it,” said Helen Blank, the director of child care and early learning for the National Women’s Law Center. “We should be able to come together on something that we have clear research on.”
W. Steven Barnett, the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, estimated that the president’s plan could cost between $3 billion and $20 billion a year. He called the plan “the biggest proposed change in American education since Brown v. the Board of Education,” the court case that integrated schools. By comparison, the federal government spent about $108 billion last year on all education programs, according to Jason Delisle of the New America Foundation. That sum includes Education Department grants, Head Start and student-loan subsidies, among other programs.
White House officials say the cost of the preschool expansion would not push federal spending beyond the caps in a budget agreement between the two parties 18 months ago. Aides said Mr. Obama would offer financial details about how much the preschool program would cost when he unveils his budget later this year.
As described by administration officials, the new preschool plan would seek to increase the number of children who attend school before kindergarten. Federal money would be used primarily to make preschool classes available for more low- and moderate-income children, though the goal would be to persuade states to offer preschool to all who wanted it.
But the proposal for new investment in early education comes at a time of deep divisions in Washington, where Republicans accuse Mr. Obama of embarking on a government spending spree without concern for the nation’s long-term debt.
Officials said the state preschool programs would have to meet rigorous standards, hire highly qualified teachers and submit to assessment programs. Teachers would have to be paid comparably to kindergarten teachers, and class sizes would be limited.
And Democrats are sure to be wary of a perception that the president wants to expand the role of the federal government in education.
The White House is betting that the public will pressure lawmakers to support preschool efforts that have been embraced in some of the most politically conservative states. Oklahoma and Georgia, which have Republican governors and were won by Mitt Romney in last year’s election, have expanded their preschool programs in recent years.
W. Steven Barnett, the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, called the effort to achieve universal preschool for all 4-year-olds “the biggest proposed change in American education since Brown versus the Board of Education,” the court case that integrated schools.
But Mr. Barnett, an advocate of the preschool expansion, said he recognized the political difficulties it faced, partly because of the cost of the program. He said it could cost between $3 billion and $20 billion a year. One study estimated the cost at about $10 billion a year, Mr. Barnett said.
“The inside-the-Beltway politics don’t look particularly good on this,” Mr. Barnett said, citing the current deficit-cutting fervor among many Republicans. Still, he said Mr. Obama’s visit to Georgia is encouraging because it might help turn the tide in Washington.
“The outside-the-Beltway politics look much better,” he said.
