ice President Al Gore filled in the details and provided a timetable for a $50 billion proposal that promises free preschool to all 4-year-olds.
Under the 10-year program, which Gore was expected to describe today on ABC's ''Good Morning America,'' state governments would be required to spend an equal amount of money to obtain the federal funds.
States would choose preschool providers from such options as public schools, Head Start facilities, and private or nonprofit organizations that would bid for contracts. Parents, in turn, would be able to choose among preschools in their communities.
The states would control curriculums, which would focus on preparing students for school rather than providing child care. The states also would monitor programs, and revoke contracts from inadequate providers.
Gore's preschool proposal, which he outlined last week as part of a $115 billion education plan, would provide free preschool to every family with an income up to 200 percent of the poverty line. Beyond that, state governments have the option of providing a sliding scale of assistance. States could also choose to expand the program to 3-year-olds, or buttress professional development. Gore says universal coverage would be available to 4-year-olds by 2005.
To attract good pre-school teachers, Gore proposes a tuition credit of up to $10,000 for college students who commit to teach in a high-need preschool for four years.
Part of the program is based on Jumpstart, begun at Yale University in 1994, and embraced by Boston in recent years. Under Jumpstart, each preschooler is assigned a mentor college student, who tutors the child in school for six hours a week. Federal work-study money would be used to fund that part of the program.
A spokesman for former senator Bill Bradley, Gore's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, criticized the vice president's plan, citing an estimate by Isabel V. Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, which puts the cost of universal preschool for 4-year-olds at $100 billion.
The Gore campaign argued yesterday that the $50 billion the vice president proposed was adequate, because states would pay for half the program's cost, and that not all parents would take up the option of free preschool.
''Every single analysis I've seen suggests that this type of investment from the federal government, working with the states, some of which already provide these programs, would make it possible for every single child in America in that age group to have access to preschool,'' said Chris Lehane, Gore campaign spokesperson.
Bradley's proposals for preschoolers target poorer families. He has proposed placing 400,000 more students into Head Start programs, and $2 billion a year in federal funding for new public-private partnerships in local communities for preschool programs. Bradley has spoken often of the need to let local communities make important decisions about education.
Lehane criticized Bradley yesterday for using up most of the projected budget surplus to fund his health-care plan - the object of some venomous exchanges between the two candidates lately - and short-changing education.
Echoing Bradley's criticisms that Gore has so far offered only modest proposals, Lehane said that without adequate funds, Bradley's proposals ''nibble around the edges, and offer only timid, incremental programs'' for education.
Bradley spokesman Eric Hauser countered that Gore's plan was simply unrealistic.
''There's a difference between trying to have a program for everything, and what we're trying to do, which is target the most crucial needs, and to have an effect on the ground,'' he said. ''We think the objective should be to use the resources in the most effective way possible.''
