California voters are being asked to vote on establishing a new state program to provide daycare ("preschool") at state expense for young childfren. Bookworm has an insightful critique of this program, which has every prospect of turning into a major boondoggle, costing too much, worsening the situation, and creating a new bureaucracy which will look for more ways to justify its existence. Here are a couple of examples: One fact is how little benefit will actually accrue if Prop 82 goes into effect. The Proposition's stated goal is to provide a year of preschool for 70% of California's average annual population of 550,000 four year olds. That is, the plan proposes sending 385,000 four year olds to preschool every year. What a noble number! The plan, however, ignores the fact that, annually, 66% of California's four year olds — or 363,000 — already go to preschool. This means a huge tax bill and the creation of a bureaucratic monster for a mere 22,000 four year...(Read Full Post)