Up in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed increasing spending on preschool by $29 million. But members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party say that's "just a down payment.". They want to give families a voucher, based on their income, to use to pay for programs that get kids ready for kindergarten.

And in Massachusetts, legislators and advocates with the Early Education for All Campaign are hopeful that the universal preschool bill passed last year and vetoed by former Gov. Mitt Romney will pass again. New governor Deval L. Patrick supports it. His wife Dianne Patrick, a former preschool teacher, told the Worcester Telegram that her husband:

is determined to make sure every child in this commonwealth is able to have the same opportunity that he had.