Childcare and Pre-K Expansion: Consensus or Polarization?

17/11/2021 35 min
Childcare and Pre-K Expansion: Consensus or Polarization?

Listen "Childcare and Pre-K Expansion: Consensus or Polarization?"

Episode Synopsis

Democrats in Congress are working to pass federal support for universal pre-kindergarten and highly subsidized childcare without Republican support. But the policies will require bipartisan states to sign on in the first few years and a later federal government to extend the temporary policies. Will these initiatives be as polarizing as Obamacare or is this a popular policy destined to grow? Rachel VanSickle-Ward finds wide bipartisan public support for childcare policies and worker pay, despite elite polarization. Michael Little finds that Republican states took longer to adopt public pre-K, but that the vast majority eventually provided state funding. They both say to expect early partisanship but broad gains in early childhood education and the care economy.

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