This City May Have Cracked The Code On Universal Pre-K

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• “Universal pre-kindergarten,” generally understood to mean free, government-financed preschool for 4- and (sometimes) 3-year-olds, typically has several interrelated purposes. It’s a way to make sure all kids are ready for kindergarten, with a special emphasis on low-income children and others who might not get that preparation without some kind of government assistance. It’s also a source of reliable, quality child care for parents who want or need to work ― and, relatedly, a way to shore up the labor force, which can be good for the economy.

• The widespread, bipartisan enthusiasm is one reason advocates had high hopes for a 2021 proposal to take the concept nationwide.

• The idea was that the federal government would pick up the bulk of the financing for any states that wanted to try it.

• But the hundreds of billions of dollars in newly proposed spending for those programs was too much for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a handful of other conservative Democrats ― to say nothing of the Republicans, for whom the sum was a total non-starter.

• But the story of Boston also comes with some important caveats, like the importance of a local political environment that will support and nurture pre-K, and give an initiative the resources it needs to succeed.

• In the 1990s, Boston launched a pre-K program within the public school system, targeting a few hundred low-income kids. Then, in 2005, Mayor Thomas Menino proposed making the program available to any family that wanted it, regardless of income. It was an audacious promise, and not simply because of the dramatic expansion it would entail. No city had tried anything this big before.

• With the help of some outside funding

• Boston set aside enough money to launch the initiative so that by the time Menino left office in 2014, it was serving about 2,000 kids. Marty Walsh, Menino’s successor, set aside yet more money for pre-K and expanded the program so that private, nonprofit organizations could participate if they showed they could meet the system’s standards and agree to operate with oversight from Boston Public Schools

• Today, 4,000 kids, or about two-thirds of the city’s 4-year-olds, attend one of the public or private programs that make up Boston’s pre-K system.

• City officials say that there are enough slots for any family that wants one, with the caveat that these slots aren’t always open in the areas where families need them. As a result, some parents have to choose between putting their kids in a nearby private program (which can be very expensive) or a faraway public one (which requires the time and money associated with transportation).

• City officials say that there are enough slots for any family that wants one, with the caveat that these slots aren’t always open in the areas where families need them. As a result, some parents have to choose between putting their kids in a nearby private program (which can be very expensive) or a faraway public one (which requires the time and money associated with transportation).

• City officials say that there are enough slots for any family that wants one, with the caveat that these slots aren’t always open in the areas where families need them. As a result, some parents have to choose between putting their kids in a nearby private program (which can be very expensive) or a faraway public one (which requires the time and money associated with transportation).

• A new, $20 million investment will create slots for 3-year-olds and allow small, in-home child care programs to participate if they hit the system’s benchmarks.

• The hope is to serve 1,000 more children, with special attention to currently underserved neighborhoods, as part of new Mayor Michelle Wu’s agenda to make Boston “the most family-friendly city in the country.”

• it’s the idea that 4-year-olds are capable of advanced learning and thinking — that, even at 4, children can develop analytical skills they will use later in life.

• It also includes several immigrant communities full of kids from families where English is not the first language ― or, in some cases, is not spoken at all.