David L. Kirp, author of "The Sandbox Investment," a new book about the pre-school movement and what he calls "kids-first politics," gave the Virginia and Leonard Marx lecture last night at Teachers College. David is a UC Berkeley public policy professor but also has been a newspaper editorial writer. So, while he backs up what he says with research, he's also an engaging raconteur who gets his point across with stories and clever turns of phrase and is not afraid to be blunt. (Just the kind of source journalists need!)

He talked about the bipartisan politics behind the growth of state spending on pre-kindergarten over the past five years or so but he also noted, as others have, that the billions in additional dollars are being spread over far more kids so in many states the per-pupil spending has gone down. "The challenge," he said,"is to make sure the early education children get is not just a slogan." That's where journalists can help, of course. Just because a state or district has a program doesn't mean it's achieving what officials say it is and we can ask questions that get at the heart of the matter.

Kirp said he feared that "we'll do preschool on the cheap and researchers will come along in 10 years and find no effect. Then, conservatives will say, 'See, we told you so. The Nanny State can do anything.' " He said his nightmare is that conservatives will then "say quietly, see, those kids really can't learn," referring to poor and non-white children.

He noted that with the exception of Obama, every one of the Democrats at the debate in Philadelphia the other night made a point to say they are in favor of universalizing pre-kindergarten.

While pre-k has been in the spotlight, less attention is being paid to the quality of child care. "Child care is so depressing I don't know where to start," he lamented. "Child care workers make about $8.50 an hour. You can make more at McDonalds. There's more turnover among child care workers than in any position except gas station attendants."

Even as pre-school has gained political momentum, in some places the various camps within early education have fought against it: private operators, those who run faith-based centers, non-school based community childcare and preschool centers, Head Start advocates, and advocates for Latino children. Kirp said the cause of these internecine battles is "the narcissism of small differences" and he said the effect of them will be "political death" for the pre-k movement. But he also said that in some states, such as Illinois, all of the various groups have gotten together and fought it out behind closed doors and then presented a unified front publicly to work together on the larger goal of more public money for early education.

I have said before and will say again that the early education and child care landscape is highly fractured and uneven in quality and access. But, nonetheless, these services are being offered, with 80% of four- and five-year-olds already spending some of their time outside the home being cared for by someone other than their parents. And that won't go away with the introduction of more state funds. Indeed, it will be necessary because public schools do not have the capacity to provide preschool for all. In his book, Kirp says the Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the main funders behind the pre-kindergarten movement, would like for all of the pre-k classes to be offered in the public schools. I've heard Pew folks say they recognize that that can't happen. But Kirp may have more inside information than I do. In any case, it's important for journalists to try to get a sense of how these various groups see the pre-k movement and whether they really are working to support it or to undermine it.