By Jonnelle Marte

(Reuters] – The U.S. president Joe Biden’s $1.75 billion “Build back Better” spending plan has a potential life-altering plan. It will eliminate universal preschool nationwide and make it more convenient for parents, mainly mothers, to work from home.

Top economic advisors at the White House have argued that the economic recovery from the coronavirus epidemic and greater growth over the coming years will depend on the participation of mothers and women.

Although the U.S. labor force was more robust before the pandemics, millions of Americans have yet to return to work since becoming jobless during the crisis.

The difficult task of determining how many mothers would enter the workforce, if schooling was made available to all 3- and 4-year-olds on an unpaid basis is not easy. The past might offer clues.

The education of children aged 5 to 6 years became an increasingly important part of the public schools system in the second half of 20th century. However, the program was not free or subsidized until the 1980s.

Researchers found that single mothers with five-year-old children and no older children had the greatest employment gains.

Elizabeth Cascio from Dartmouth College said that pre-K free will incentivize a parent who has a child at the right age to work. She was an economist who studied labor market impacts of preschool and kindergarten expansions. It is only a question of how much.

MILLIONS OF KIDS HAVE BEEN IMPACTED

The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that roughly 50% of American 3-to-4-year-olds, or 4,000,000 kids, went to school in 2019.

In November, the House passed the Build Back Better spending bill. It allocates $109 billion for funding universal preschool in the United States. This money will be used over six years. According to Penn Wharton research, full-day universal preschool in all states could increase enrollment by approximately 1.3 million kids.

Democrats are hopeful that the Senate will vote in favor of the bill before Christmas.

Cascio reported that prior to the introduction of public kindergarten programs in America, between 1950-1990, around 40% single mothers with five-year-olds or fewer entered the workforce once their child was enrolled in school.

Cascio reported that pregnant mothers with young children and women who are married didn’t experience any change in their job prospects.

Women between the ages of 25 and 54 were more likely to be in the labor force than men. It rose to 42% in 1960, then to a high of 77.3% by 2000. However, it has been slightly lower since then. Some mothers feel that public preschool will make it easier to go back to work.

Ellen Reynolds, 39 years old, left her job as Savannah’s dental assistant to have her baby in 2019. Reynolds stated that she and her husband considered enrolling their son in private preschool programs when he turned three. They cost from $150 to $400 per week, which is approximately two-thirds the amount of Reynolds’ previous salary.

According to her, a free full-day preschool program would enable her to be financially independent and return to work next year. She said, “If it’s going to take me away from my family I want it be worthwhile my while.”

WASHINGTON D.C.’S 10 POINT JUMP

Washington, D.C. saw one of the most dramatic changes. In 2009, it began to offer full-day preschool for two years.

The number of preschool enrollees grew steadily over the years to 88% for 4-year-olds, up from 68% in 2008 and 68% in 2008. According to the National Institute for Early Education Research, enrollment in preschools for 3-year-olds increased by 66% to 28%.

According to Rasheed Malik (director of preschool policy at the Center for American Progress), a progressive non-profit group in Washington, the share of moms with at least one child younger than 5 years old rose to 76.4% by 2016, from 65% prior to expansion. Rasheed Malik also analyzed the impact of the expansion on the labor force participation rate. Rasheed Malik attributed 10 percentage points to this increase to the Center for American Progress’s analysis.

Malik stated that by reducing financial and psychological stress associated with finding and maintaining child care, moms could be able to go outside of the house more easily.

Cascio University and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach from Northwestern (NASDAQ) University found that the labor effect was less in Oklahoma than in Georgia. Both states introduced universal preschool programs in late 1990s.

According to a Penn Wharton analysis, MaddisonErbabian, Daniela Viiana Costa, and Youran Wong, overall, low-income mothers could be more active in the labor market if universal preschool was available nationwide.

They wrote that although these policies had small effects on long-term GDP, they did improve the welfare of certain demographic subgroups.

Malik indicated that there may be less impact in areas where full-day programs are not offered or those with lower living costs that families can afford.

Republican-led States may choose to opt out from the expansion. This could potentially lock out many children.