WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced more than $1 billion in public and private investments in preschool, but called on Congress to make more money available to programs.
Obama praised Republican-led states like Oklahoma and Georgia for their preschool programs, saying the federal government can help other states follow their lead.
"They're not known as wild-eyed liberal states," Obama said. "But it just goes to show you that this is an issue that's bigger than politics."
Fewer than a third of U.S. 4-year-olds are currently enrolled in preschool programs that help them do better when they get to elementary school and help increase their learning and earning potential later in life.
The United States ranks 28th in access to preschool among industrialized nations. "Quite frankly, as a nation, we should be ashamed," Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters.
Obama has proposed $75 billion in federal investments over 10 years to help states provide preschool for 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income households.
States currently spend more than $5 billion on preschool programs, according to the National Institute for Early Education.
Obama said the Education Department will give more than $226 million in grants to 18 states to enroll more than 33,000 kids in programs, and the Health and Human Services Department will give up to $500 million for Head Start and child care programs for more than 30,000 infants and toddlers.
The private sector has also pledged more than $330 million to preschool projects, including $55 million from Walt Disney Co, and $25 million from the family foundation of J.B. Pritzker, a Chicago businessman whose sister is Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.
The White House has worked to leverage money from the private sector to help boost its policy priorities in areas where Congress has not provided the kind of support that Obama has requested.
(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Nick Zieminski)