Public school options start at age five for most kids, with kindergarten. President Joe Biden wants to change that by including universal preschool in his Build Back Better plan. The Build Back Better bill that passed the House includes $109 billion to fund full-day, universal preschool for six years, and it could be a game-changer—especially for parents and primary caregivers of young children, who are too often kept out of the paid labor force by high child care costs. That, in turn, could have widespread benefits to the economy. Under the Biden plan, preschool would be voluntary—parents who wanted to keep their kids home could absolutely do so—and parents would have a choice of programs including public schools, Head Start programs, and private child care providers. But, according to the White House, the plan would “enable states to expand access to free preschool for more than six million children per year and increase the quality of preschool for many more children already enrolled.” (That “enable states to” part is important: Republican-controlled states would likely opt out of the program, denying their kids the opportunity.) Read more