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Child Care and Development Fund, the Child and Dependent

Care Tax Credit, the Child and Adult Care Food Program,

and the Social Services Block Grant.21  That estimate does

not include funds for more than 85 other federal preschool

and child-care programs for children from birth through

age five.22  Most federal funds can be used at the states'

discretion to pay for child-care and early education pro-

grams such as public preschool.  As more and more states

open public preschools, it is likely that there will be

more pressure on federal legislators to increase the

amount of federal funds available for that purpose.

Few legislators, thus far, have proposed mandatory

attendance.  However, if the history of public education

is any indicator, it is likely that such mandates will

appear in time.  For example, in 1898 only 10 states had

compulsory school attendance laws, and they generally

applied to children between the ages of 8 and 14 and

required attendance for a few months per year.23  Today all

50 states have compulsory attendance laws, and many apply

to children between the ages of 5 and 18 and require

attendance for at least eight months per year.24  The trend

has been to expand the duration of required attendance to

include both younger (age 5 and below) and older (age 18)

students.25  At present, the U.S. Department of Education

reports, "The notion of transforming schools into all-day,

year-round learning centers appears to be a popular one."26

Given historic and current trends, it seems likely that

the mandatory participation of three- and four-year-old

children in preschool could be required by many states in

the early part of the next century.

The trend of expanding the responsibilities of the

public school system does not bode well for America's

youngsters, particularly given the gross failure of the

public school system to educate the children who are cur-

rently enrolled.  Although we're spending five times more

per pupil than we did in the 1940s and more than twice

what we spent in the 1960s (adjusted for inflation), stu-

dent achievement scores on a variety of competency exams

have plummeted.  Results of the 1994 National Assessment

of Educational Progress showed that 57 percent of high

school seniors scored below the "basic" level of history

achievement, that is, they answered fewer than 42 percent

of the questions correctly.  The Third International

Mathematics and Science Study, released in 1996, found

that U.S. eighth-graders scored below the average of stu-

dents from 40 nations on math and just above the average

on science.  Scholastic Aptitude Test scores have fallen

from 978 in 1963 to 904 today.27   The public schools' fail-

ings have forced colleges and businesses to do the work of