This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions.

It’s preschool application season in New York City, where I live. That means parents of toddlers are eagerly and anxiously signing on to a (surprisingly user-friendly) city-run website and ranking their preferred programs, in the hopes that, come fall, their 3- and 4-year-olds will be able to go to a high-quality pre-K in their community — for free.

These programs are huge for families, who otherwise would be spending tens of thousands of dollars a year on day care. They can be wonderful for kids, who are better prepared for kindergarten and more likely to go to college one day. And they’re a surprising bright spot in an otherwise bleak child care landscape.

In recent years, states like California, Colorado, and New Mexico have expanded their publicly funded pre-K options. New York City has staved off some proposed funding cuts to its program for 3-year-olds, thanks in part to the activism of families who have come to count on it. Preschool has emerged as that rare issue with bipartisan support, as lawmakers in deep-red states like Alabama increase funding to their programs.

In 2022–2023, enrollment in publicly funded preschool hit an all-time high, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Preschool still faces plenty of challenges — funding remains uneven, not all programs are high-quality, and the Trump administration’s threatened funding freeze is still creating chaos for some federally funded programs. But the relative success of programs across the country — and the way they’ve been sold to lawmakers and the public — could hold lessons for all of us as we move through the uncharted waters of Trump 2.0.

Pre-K can have huge benefits for kids — and families

At the most basic level, preschool helps get kids ready for school. Children who go through a pre-K program are more likely to have pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills that........

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