California wants free preschool for all

There's a proposition on the table that will provide Californians with free preschool for their 4-year-olds. It's Prop 82 and you can read more about it at yeson82.com.

A press release announced that,

"Studies show that children who go to quality preschool read earlier and learn faster. But only 20% of our children actually go to quality preschools. Prop 82 will provide a free, high-quality preschool education for every four- year old in California. It will provide trained, credentialed teachers in every classroom and more parental involvement. According to the Legislative Analyst, all revenues would be used for the new preschool program, and Prop 82 provides audits and criminal penalties, including possible jail time, for misuse of funds."

More and more states are moving toward free preschool and I think it's a great idea. It's not always easy to ensure that your child care center will have highly trained or credentialed teachers, so this is a good move. If child care centers want to compete, then they will have to start hiring better teachers, I suppose. Although it's hard to compete with "free" either way.