Julian D. Crocker is county superintendent of schools.

We want all of our children to be successful in school. However, about half of the 2,400 children who enter kindergarten in our county each year are not as prepared as others to be successful.

This is often because they did not have access to a high- quality preschool. Kindergarten teachers can quickly tell which children have had a quality preschool experience. These children have attended preschools with rich learning environments and with well-trained teachers knowledgeable in early childhood learning and development. They have had regular opportunities for socialization, vocabulary development, pre-reading and numeracy experiences, creativity and exploration, cooperative play and a variety of purposeful activities in small groups.

Some children overcome this lack of quality preschool, but others do not and often these are the students whose school achievement is below their peers for the rest of their school career.

Quality preschool programs establish the essential literacy skills needed for children to become good readers in school. We know that reading is often the gateway to school success, far beyond elementary school. There is strong evidence that children who attend a quality preschool have less need for costly remediation services later in school.

The RAND Corp. projects that California would get $2.62 back for every dollar invested in quality preschool for all from improved K-12 schools, lower juvenile crime and reduced poverty among better-educated adults.

Proposition 82, the Preschool for All initiative on the June 6 ballot, offers a historic opportunity for all

4-year-olds in California to attend a publicly funded, quality preschool on a voluntary basis. Proposition 82 is our most serious attempt yet to ensure that all children, no matter their ethnicity or family income, have a chance to start school on a level playing field.

Preschool offers children from non-English speaking homes the chance to build their English skills early. All of us who have been around kids know from experience that 4-year-olds are eager to learn and full of curiosity. The great majority of brain growth takes place before a child turns 5, and the years before children enter kindergarten are critical in forming social, emotional and cognitive skills.

The Preschool for All initiative preserves parent choice by allowing programs to be provided by public schools, private preschools and community-based organizations that meet specified quality standards, including well-trained teachers. There is strong accountability built into Proposition 82 at both the local and state level, and a strict cap of 6 percent for administrative spending.

It ensures the availability of a high-quality preschool experience for three hours a day for every child. Families can then supplement this learning time with additional child care as they are now doing.

Proposition 82 funds quality preschools for all families with an additional 1.7 percent tax on incomes over $800,000 for couples and $400,000 for individuals.

Our existing publicly funded preschool programs such as Head Start and California State Preschool serve only a small number of children who qualify by income level.

Statewide, there are waiting lists for these existing programs. A recent survey in our county found that while other children may attend some kind of early care program, there is great variation in quality and regularity. Some children have no preschool experience. Many lower- and middle-income families find it particularly difficult to find quality early care and education that matches family work schedules and budget.

The cost of a quality preschool can exceed the tuition at our state universities with the statewide average cost of private, part-time preschool and child care being over $4,000.

I am not proposing quality preschool as a silver-bullet solution to all that ails society, but I do believe that it offers a clear chance for thousands of children to get a stronger start in school and a better future for themselves. I believe that Proposition 82 is an investment in our children’s future and is one of the most effective steps we can take to close the achievement gap that exists for some students when they start kindergarten. I urge you to vote "yes" on Proposition 82, the Preschool for All initiative.