Clinton Proposes Pre-K Access For All Kids

Democratic Presidential Candidate Proposes $10B Program Aimed At 4-Year-Olds

(AP)  Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a $10 billion federal program aimed at providing voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-old children in America.

"Our educational system needs to be strengthened from start to finish, but we have to start where it all begins," Clinton told an audience of children, teachers and parents.

Clinton said she would pay for the program by closing tax loopholes and eliminating Bush administration programs she disagrees with.

"There are so many places to cut the money that is being spent in this government. Let's start by cutting 500,000 of the private contractors the Bush administration has had who don't do a job that is held accountable in any way," Clinton said, adding that ending the Iraq war will also provide money for investing in programs.

She said quality pre-kindergarten programs will more than pay for themselves because children will be less likely to enter special education programs, drop out of school or enter the welfare system. She also said preparing children for school also reduces behavioral problems.

"If you add up all the benefits, it's really astonishing," the New York senator and former first lady said, citing one study that says for every dollar invested in pre-kindergarten, there is at least a seven fold return. "We consistently fail to invest in what will save us money."

Clinton presented the proposal at an appearance Monday at North Beach Elementary School in Miami Beach. Before the announcement, she visited a pre-kindergarten classroom where children sang for her and answered questions.

She praised Florida for starting a statewide pre-kindergarten program, but noted that only 20 percent of the nation's children are in state-paid programs.

Her proposal would provide federal funds to states that agree to establish a plan for making voluntary pre-kindergarten services universally available for all 4-year-olds. States that already do so would receive money to expand or enhance the programs.

Teachers would need at least a bachelor's degree and specialize in early childhood education and the plan would require low student-teacher ratios, Clinton said.

"If children start school behind it is likely they will stay behind and by the third and fourth grade they are already feeling like they don't fit in, they're uncomfortable, they're being labeled failures and I don't think that's what we want for our children," Clinton said.

States would match federal funds made available to them dollar-for-dollar and could use the assistance to expand their existing Head Start programs.

The program would start with $5 billion and expand to $10 billion over the next five years as states increase their commitments. States would be required to provide services at no cost to children from low-income families and those from "limited English homes," Clinton's campaign said in a statement before the announcement.

"If states have achieved these quality benchmarks, they will be able to use the funds flexibly to meet the needs of their local communities," the campaign said. "They could serve younger children; raise teachers' salaries; provide additional support and training for teachers or engage in other activities that expand and improve their pre-K programs."

The federal funds would be allocated through state governors.

[klingon69]

They would be required to provide services at no cost to children from low-income families and those from "limited English homes."
Say it for what it is, going to spend more for services that will be directed towards illegals. English, learn it or do without!

Under the Clinton plan, states would match federal funds made available to them dollar-for-dollar and could use the assistance to expand their existing Head Start programs.
And all this will be taken out of our taxes, ***, we can't even handle our own deficit and she wants more, typical Democrat; TAX & SPEND!

[mitywhity]

This will only lower the quality of education in this country even further. We have endured the lowering of the bar steadily since "you know when" and with the unabated influx of illegals into this country you can count on our educational standards to rival no one in the competitive world for mediocrity. Go Hillary! Use my money to secure your seat of power you communist!

[azelb]

The education of young children has to be limited to the provision of materials and guidance in their usage. Stifling the young minds with heavy indoctrination style education should be prohibited by any attempt to preschool young people.

[bellal-2009]

I'm not paying for this. I will pack up, close down, sell off, and leave the country before I pay another dime in taxes for this nanny state. We are going to be upwards of 40% taxes probably higher when you include sky high property taxes. But it's all in the plan. They don't want us to own property. Only the rich multi-national corp. will own property. The rest of us will be slaves (not that we aren't already).

[erik2590]

The typical Socialist Pig she is...

[drivelphobe]

What a transparent scam! This is nothing but childcare and babysitting for the illegals, welfare moms and lowlife families. Mothers should be home with the children until they are in school fulll-time. Hillary is quite remarkable at conjuring up insane concepts to attract the votes of the unworthy.

[infidel_us]

"I'm no ways tired.......Iz come too farrrrrr"

I think America is ready for this wench. By and large, we all get what we deserve. If America is on her way out, we may as well go out with a BANG! :)

[infidel_us]

We will be wiped out in our own country without a shot.
Posted by FARTKNOCKER2 at 11:20 AM : May 21, 2007

Don't worry.....I heard that the senate offices are beling bombarded with calls, faxes, e-mails saying DO NOT vote in favor of this legislation.

It would be political suicide for them to do so.

[cbgb31]

OK, so we've got universal health care, universal daycare, universal pre-school, universal school breakfast-lunch-dinner, universal long term care (coming soon to an election near you). What's left, universal burial. Somehow I don't think the rich are going to be able to cover all this so guess who pays. Does anyone really want to own property?

[forthepeopl1]

HOW ABOUT ALL THE REAL NEWS THAT IS NOT BEING TOLD TO ALL AMERICANS FROM THE MEDIA...

WE NEED A NATIONAL AMERICAN WALK OUT COMPLETELY! EVERYONE JUST STOP WORKING ALL TRAINS BUSES,PLAINS,TRUCKS, SEE HOW LONG THE GOVERNMENT CAN RUN THIS COUNTRY WITH NO MONEY COMMING IN...

SO WHAT YOU ALL SAY???????????????

A REAL MAN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS THE TRUTH. THAT THIS ADMINASTRATION AND PRESIDENT IS THE WORST IN HISTORY. AND CONGRESS AND THE WHITEHOUSE SAYS HE CRAZY...WHAT IS WORNGE WITH THAT PICTURE..

BUT THIS PRESIDENT CAN SAY ANYTHING HE WANTS ABOUT OUR CONSTITUION..LIKE HE STATED ITS JUST A PEICE OF PAPER,IT DOESN'T MATTER TO ME...AND NO ONE SAYS A WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hadenufff]

When are the people of this country going to get fed up with paying for every stinking ridiculas program that the dems can think up? This is going way beyond becoming a nanny state. Hillary is just a communist in disguise and won't be happy until her and her man are back in control. If that happens watch your paycheck dwindle even more because our taxes will go through the roof!

[jdubs63]

I think this is a great idea.

[rsoxfan1123]

HadEnuff-are you really that stupid? have you never read studies that show how much more successful students are in school when they attend pre-k? Giving public education free from age 4 sounds like an excellent idea. The program already existed in part by the name Head Start and was one of the first Bush casualities when he created the tax cuts for the extremely wealthy.

[lorinkundert]

Karl Marx would be proud of Hilary.

[rsoxfan1123]

lorinkundert-providing an education for the youth of our society is not a commie ideal. It is part of a democracy. Adolph Hitler would be proud of YOU.

[puzzler125]

I started nursery school at 2, was in Pre-K, then Kindergarten, and have met people who never even went to Kindergarten! Being so much better prepared for school was a blessing. A friend's granddaughter started (no nursery school or Pre-K) Kindergarten and didn't know the alphabet, how to spell her name and many other skills the other children can do. Not all parents work with their children on basic skills. Since we know children ARE able to learn so much more at an early age why not start teaching them earlier? (I started school in Kansas in the early 1960s).

[diverinnl]

"States would be required to provide services at no cost to children from low-income families and those from "limited English homes," Clinton's campaign said in a statement before the announcement."

-- So, middle class families will not only have the added tax burden of paying for low income families but will have to pay additional fees as well?

"There are so many places to cut the money that is being spent in this government. Let's start by cutting 500,000 of the private contractors the Bush administration has had who don't do a job that is held accountable in any way,"

-- That's right, cut 500,000 private sector jobs and see what happens to your tax base.

Freakin' commi'!

[lorinkundert]

I hear people all the time complaining about these programs and the more taxes they are forced to pay, but has anyone even looked at the Income Tax Act to determine who is liable for those taxes? If you go by what the Supreme Court has ruled time and time again and read the law you would discover that most of us are not liable, that the 16th Amendment gave Congress no new taxing power that it didn't have prior to the 16th, do some research.

[rsoxfan1123]

lorinkunder-maybe repubs should've tried to use a seperate war tax to pay for this Iraq mess rather than loaning from China and cutting our educational programs.

[lorinkundert]

A war tax would be legal if apportioned as per the Constitution.

[diverinnl]

lorinkundert, you are correct but the Government can charge a fee for service. It's just working around the Constitution for a new tax with verbiage. Anytime you give the government money and expect something in return, whether it be a permit, a tag for your dog, etc., it's a tax.

[rsoxfan1123]

a war tax would've been voted down even by the rubber stamp republican Congress we had that allowed the worst president in history to destroy our economy like a drunken teenager with a credit card.

[infidel_us]

She's giving us all a little peek under her socialist pant suit. More government INDOC for your kid. Guess having them from K thru college isn't enough........now they want pre K.

Q: How do you make a good socialist?
A: Let the dems educate your kids.

[diverinnl]

rsox, can you give me some examples on how our economy is so bad? Employement is up, interest rates are slightly higher than they were a few years ago but not drasticly, inflation is under control, the market is steaming away strongly, nearly all fortune 1000 companies posted Q4 record earnings. The housing market is flat and gas prices are up but if memory serves correctly, life was harsher under Carter and Ford than now.

[mcvet]

Great IDEA!! It is certainly time someone started coming up with Ideas that does NOT reward fat cat contributors at the expense of the Average American.

[mcvet]

That's right, cut 500,000 private sector jobs and see what happens to your tax base.

Freakin' commi'!

Posted by diverinnl at 12:54 PM : May 21, 2007

LOL Sounds like someone hit a nerve here!! LOL Now YOU wouldn't be on the dole with the Bush Administration now would you? Yep thought so! That Swastika you're wearing and your willingness to call other people Commie gave you away. Not to worry, we've taken care of you losers from day one.... despite the fact you have fought against every right we have. Sieg Heil Y'all. LOL

[mcvet]

She's giving us all a little peek under her socialist pant suit. More government INDOC for your kid. Guess having them from K thru college isn't enough........now they want pre K.

Q: How do you make a good socialist?
A: Let the dems educate your kids.
Posted by Infidel_US at 01:07 PM : May 21, 2007

Sparky if NOT for the "Dem's" there would be NO EDUCATION in this nation. You see you fascist said it was a dead waste of money to educate Working Class Kids... in fact you fought TOOTH and NAIL to keep them in the mines and mills of this nation instead of the classroom. I hardly think we should be listening to clowns like you about EDUCATION. Sieg Heil Y'all. ROFLMAO

[diverinnl]

LOL Sounds like someone hit a nerve here!! LOL Now YOU wouldn't be on the dole with the Bush Administration now would you? Yep thought so! That Swastika you're wearing and your willingness to call other people Commie gave you away. Not to worry, we've taken care of you losers from day one.... despite the fact you have fought against every right we have. Sieg Heil Y'all. LOL

Posted by McVet at 01:13 PM : May 21, 2007

So, you call me make assumptions about me and call me a nazi in the context of criticizing me for calling Hillary a commi? It's not even worth getting into with you. You're own hypocrisy makes my argument for me.

[rsoxfan1123]

diverinnl- Bush created the largest deficit in US history in the shorest amount of time, especially when beginning with a surplus that Clinton left him. Charging everything on a credit card and pointing to how well we are doing is stupid. Wait until we have to pay to repair sand damaged and broken equipment, plus move the troops back. We will exceed $1 trillion spent in Iraq alone.

[forthepeopl1]

HOW ABOUT ALL THE REAL NEWS THAT IS NOT BEING TOLD TO ALL AMERICANS FROM THE MEDIA...

WE NEED A NATIONAL AMERICAN WALK OUT COMPLETELY! EVERYONE JUST STOP WORKING ALL TRAINS BUSES,PLAINS,TRUCKS, SEE HOW LONG THE GOVERNMENT CAN RUN THIS COUNTRY WITH NO MONEY COMMING IN...

SO WHAT YOU ALL SAY???????????????

A REAL MAN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS THE TRUTH. THAT THIS ADMINASTRATION AND PRESIDENT IS THE WORST IN HISTORY. AND CONGRESS AND THE WHITEHOUSE SAYS HE CRAZY...WHAT IS WORNGE WITH THAT PICTURE..

BUT THIS PRESIDENT CAN SAY ANYTHING HE WANTS ABOUT OUR CONSTITUION..LIKE HE STATED ITS JUST A PEICE OF PAPER,IT DOESN'T MATTER TO ME...AND NO ONE SAYS A WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[diverinnl]

rsox, good point but when you speak to Clinton's surplus, you have to recognize that part of our deficit now is the balloon payment that Clinton extended on the national debt until 2002. His surplus was smoke and mirrors. He just extended the debt.

The point of the cost of war exponentialy expanding the debt I will accept as a valid point though.

[rsoxfan1123]

diverinnl-explain your balloon payment comment. Blaming Clinton for Bush running up the debt seems a bit ludicrous, as is blaming him for Iraq or 9/11. Bush needs to take responsibility for his actions rather than blaming cronies or past presidents.

[diverinnl]

rsox, This is not blaming Clinton for Bush's debt creation. How do you think Clinton created a surplus so fast without cutting spending? All he did, in a nutshell, was extend the payments on the debt until 2002 making it appear as if we had extra money. It's the same as if your mortage company said that you don't have to make a house payment for six months. Wouldn't that extra money be a "surplus"?

[dallison7]

Isn't that just like a democrat!!!

Proposing something that will actually benefit future generations! What kind of krap is this?? Intelligent people know that it is our job to eliminate public education, social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, who the hell cares about those deadbeats who say they need help getting back on their feet!!! Plus we have a responsibility to take the chains off the multinational corporations and let them be as profitable as they can be... we cannot stand by and let the democrats force them to pay attention to the air and water quality!! All this nonsense about 'alternative fuels' is crazy!! There's plenty of oil, if we need more we can just attack another country.

[rsoxfan1123]

diverinnl-Clinton also closed tax loopholes for the extremely wealthy and put restrictions on welfare programs-that is how he paid down the debt. Bush borrowed from china to pay for iraq. That is where the deficit came from now and the bill is still running.

[diverinnl]

rsox, yes, Clinton did close some tax loopholes and increase the tax base. I'm not saying Clinton did a bad thing, many other Presidents have done the same thing. But closing the tax loopholes for the super wealthy and not borrwing any additional money did not pay off the deficit in and among itself. It was always in the background, we just weren't paying on it.

And I do agree that any gains that Clinton created, Bush destroyed.

[rsoxfan1123]

diverinnl-conservatives admitting those things and distancing themselves from them in "rebuild the moderate party" mode is their only hope in the upcoming elections. Denying it is either going to be seen as ignorance or lying and the voters will reflect that in the booths.

[diverinnl]

again rsox, I agree. If we can't accept and admit where the problems really lie, we can't fix them in the future and prevent the same things from happening again. Unfortunatly, it seems that both parties are so filled with hatred for each other right now, that the blinders are on pretty tight.

[rsoxfan1123]

People are in an angry "I told you so" mode and they are frustrated. Our nation has been so divided by this administration that it may not be fixable.

[diverinnl]

It's fixable, but it wil take honest, open discourse. If I understand your posts, you seem left of center. Obviously, I'm right of center. I really believe that the vast majority of the country is either just left or just right of center and it will take the collective us to be citizen statesmen, like the constitution intended, to fix this problem.

[rsoxfan1123]

Good politicians have to be able to communicate/negotiate with those of differing opinions or nothing would ever get done. This administration is the exception rather than the norm in this. Take, for example, the timetable negotiations. I see Congress giving ground and giving ground to the point of betraying the voters that put them there and Bush refusing to budge in the slightest.

[pepperp1]

What is she crazy; divert all those tax dollars give aways from the republican donor base, for shame Hillary. Use our tax dollars to benefit our children in our communities in our country, ridiculous we could buy more services from Halliburton. What she is proposing could start a trend soon more politicians will be demanding that tax revenues be used for the benefit of the all American people and not just Blackwater, Big Oil and the Faith Based tax hogs? And how can we afford this and the 3 billion we are spending every 3 week in Iraq, I suppose she will want to raise taxes for this program. And what about those GOP donations, children don't contribute to political parties and what if they become educated voters someday, what is she thinking. Oh my Hillary you have really lost it now.

[diverinnl]

rsox, no argument here. My personal opinion is that if we hadn't gone there in the first place, Bush's approval rating would probably be in the high 40's to perhaps the low 60's right now. The Iraq War completely destroyed his Presidency and perhaps the credibility of conservative nation wide. There would be the occasional scandal but nothing to the extent we're dealing with now.

[rsoxfan1123]

diverinnl-If bush were smart he'd accept a timetable that would push withdrawl off to the next president and the resulting disaster on our economy as we pay for the war would get blamed on the next president, probably a democrat. But being left of center myself I'd really like to see him accept responsibilty.

[diverinnl]

I agree. He should have started thinking about timetables when the people started crying foul. After all, Constitutionaly, he can't be held to them if their part of the congressional war funding but it would have gone a long way to appease American citizens and maintaing what international relations we have left out there.

Being right of center though, I'd rather see a Democrat get the blame (LOL)!

[rsoxfan1123]

There have been huge profits from the war that have been traced directly back to Bush campaign supporters. All of that money would have been lost to those stockholders. Conservatives would do well to admit this as well and cry out against it as they "rebuild" their moderate base.

[pepperp1]

Delusional, the man has no ethical moral compass, its not just Iraq and without Iraq he would have been a one hit wonder, the War President as he, Cheney and Rove and Rush like to call him had approval ratings in the toilet before 911, there is nothing there folks he is a party puppet and powerful corporations not the American people are pulling this mans strings and they don't want him to leave Iraq they are making to much money off the war.

[truth832-2009]

Hail to Hillary Clinton. Perhaps education is the answer. How is it that so many of the electorate of the United States voted on two separate occasions for G.W. Bush? Many people I speak with that voted for Bush twice... are now disenchanted with him. How long does it take to see clearly through the facade that convinces people of falsehood?

The people I speak to seem to oppose her for reasons that are not intelligently thought out. That she is affliated with a particular party is not grounds for rejection; nor is because she is a woman! Examining the issues for guidance seems to be the best solution.

[diverinnl]

true rsox but quid pro quo; how may real estate speculators and bankers made billions during the Clinton era? I don't mean that point my finger in Clinton's eye but use it to point out that in our system of Government, we have the best representation that money can buy. They're all bought and sold like livestock. That's true for both sides of the aisle.

[bourbon83]

More spoof from the Clinton scammers. How ridiculous. Pre-K? Come on, kids need a chance to just be kids. Not funneled directly into systematic brain washing. All her pipe dream would be is a bigger tax payer funded day care, for people already leaching off the system. Despite record high tax collection, [that actually made the back page of the news paper] we still hear whining for more money for education. Yet we still put out dumber, un-motivated, and phycotic children than ever before in our history. Let kids be kids, they have plenty of time to mature from first grade on. Instead of throwing more money and programs that deliver no results, we need to look at evaluating current programs, Cut administration, get pride for country, country men, and self back into the classroom, allow teachers/parents to actually dicipline, and promote morality instead of immorality. Then we'll see better children. All that can be done without more money, or any more schemes from the partners in power.