The new American Families Plan proposed by President Joe Biden this week would make preschool free for all three and 4-year-olds in the U.S. The plan budgets $225 billion for child care over 10 years. Some early education advocates are cautiously optimistic the plan could lead to significant changes.
A Broken System
Experts agree the COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in U.S. child care that have existed for years.
“You really couldn’t get away from the fact over the course of the past year how essential child care is to us as a country and is to families,” said Sarah Rittling, Executive Director of the First Five Years Fund, a non-profit focused on increasing child care access.