In Texas, public-funded pre-kindergarten is important because it provides the most vulnerable children with the opportunity to develop school readiness, so they can learn core competencies in kindergarten relevant to academic readiness for first grade. The Texas Legislature was back in session in spring 2019 and, not surprisingly, a bill was filed requiring all Texas school districts to offer free all-day preschool programs for students meeting certain criteria—in the interest of the public good. In this colloquium, the author seeks to bring attention to the problem of pre-kindergarten attendance—an issue that the Legislature needs to address before funding the expansion of pre-kindergarten from half-day to full-day programs. In so doing, the author’s intention is to inspire discourse among the early childhood global community of educators, researchers, and policymakers regarding pre-kindergarten compulsory policy and practice, and thereby inform current thinking and guide further study on this important issue.

中文翻译：

---

为了公共利益：德州学前教育强制法

在德克萨斯州，公共资助的学前班很重要，因为它为最弱势的儿童提供了准备入学的机会，因此他们可以在幼儿园学习与一年级学业准备相关的核心能力。德克萨斯州议会于 2019 年春季重新开会，毫不奇怪，一项法案被提交，要求德克萨斯州所有学区为符合某些标准的学生提供免费的全日制学前班课程——这是为了公共利益。在这次座谈会上，作者试图引起人们对学前班出勤问题的关注——这是立法机构在资助将学前班从半日制课程扩展到全日制课程之前需要解决的问题。这样做，作者的目的是激发全球幼儿教育界的讨论，