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Idaho left early education up to families. One town set out to get universal preschool anyway
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Emery Lankford, a 4-year-old preschooler at Hillcrest Developmental Preschool, takes a break from schoolwork to eat lunch. The one-stoplight farming community in conservative Idaho has embraced a goal that backers describe as progressive: universal preschool. - photo by AP Photo/Kyle Green
AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — After reading a book about the five senses to a semicircle of rapt 4-year-olds, Abi Hawker tells the children in her afternoon preschool class that she has a surprise for them. She drags a small popcorn maker onto the carpet and asks them to consider: Which of their senses might be activated when she pours the kernels into the machine? When the kernels heat up?