Washington, D.C. — In reaction to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address tonight, Cynthia G. Brown, Vice President of Education Policy at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
We applaud President Obama for taking a stand for the middle class. He made a strong statement that children matter—everybody’s children. And now is the time to make strategic investments to ensure that all children get the same opportunity to live up to their full potential and succeed in all areas of their lives.
For the youngest, that means making high-quality preschool available to all children, including those in middle-income families with parents who are challenged to juggle the demands of work and family while covering the cost of preschool. There’s plenty of evidence that attending a quality preschool is linked to greater academic achievement and a reduced chance of ending up as a teenage parent, a high school dropout, or arrested for a violent crime.
All children should have the chance to attend a high-quality preschool and be taught by excellent teachers so that they can become effective and full participants in their homes, communities, and in the nation.
To speak with an expert on this topic, contact Katie Peters at [email protected] or 202.741.6285.
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