The Locomotive or the Caboose?

The U.S. Lags Behind in Early Childhood Education

During his State of the Union speech, President Obama proposed an ambitious new early childhood education initiative, including voluntary preschool for all four year-olds.

Investing in our children is obviously the right thing to do, but it’s also a way to grow our economy and reduce income inequality over the long-term. In fact, every dollar we invest in early childhood education yields a whopping $7 in savings.

Unfortunately, investment and enrollment in early childhood education in the U.S. lags behind — sometimes far behind — other countries. Check out these infographics from our Center for American Progress colleagues that illustrate the disparities:

You can read more on our lagging investments in early childhood education HERE.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s time to invest more in our kids and their early education. If we can afford to give Big Oil billions of dollars in subsidies every year, we should be able to afford pre-kindergarten for every four year-old in America.

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