The Effects of Universal Preschool in the District of Columbia on Maternal Employment

• In Event: The Economic Effects of Early Childhood Education on Parents and Children

Abstract

High-quality early care and education (ECE) programs can jointly promote young children’s school readiness while providing a source of nonparental child care that supports parents’ employment (Chaudry et al., 2021; Morrissey, 2017; Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Private ECE programs can be expensive (Landivar et al., 2023; Malik, 2019); however, in turn, while children from higher-income families are participating in licensed, center-based programs at high rates and at younger ages, children from lower-income families or facing other risks enroll in licensed ECE programs at lower rates (Burgess et al., 2014; Chaudry et al., 2021; Magnuson & Waldfogel, 2016). State-sponsored preschool programs, which typically enroll children in the year or two prior to kindergarten entry, have grown in recent decades and help narrow socioeconomic gaps in ECE attendance (Magnuson & Waldfogel, 2016). In 2023, 44 states had some sort of public preschool program, with X states having universal programs that did not contain income or other eligibility limits (Friedman-Kraus et al., 2024). Prior research in the U.S. and abroad suggests that public preschool programs increases maternal labor force participation, particularly among lower-income mothers, single mothers, and those without other young children (Cascio & Schanzenbach, 2013; Humphries et al., 2024; Malik, 2018; Morrissey, 2017), although other research finds very small or null effects (Fitzpatrick, 2010) which may be at least partially driven by changing patterns of labor supply and population characteristics (Fitzpatrick, 2012). While K-12 education is a major driver of residential moves and preferences, to date, little research has examined how public preschool changes geographic population dynamics by attracting or retaining families with young children. The District of Columbia (DC) began its two-year, universal preschool program in 2009; by 2011, more than 9 in 10 four-year-olds and two-thirds of three-year-olds in the city were enrolled in public preschool, the highest percentage of children enrolled than any U.S. state or territory. DC preK offers full school-day (6.5 hours/day), academic year programming, and in 2012, the District spent approximately $19,498 per child (2023$), the same per-child amount as in their K-12 funding formula (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2023). Prior research using a synthetic control approach estimated that DC’s preK program increased the maternal employment rate by 10 percentage points by 2015 (Malik, 2018). More recent research indicates that children who attended preschool were more likely to persist in the public school system, particularly among residents in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color (Braga, Breno et al., 2024). However, whether the employment effects were sustained over time, or whether the city retained or attracted families with young children more so than neighboring communities.
This study uses data from the American Community Survey (ACS) from 2008 to 2023 to examine the effects of DC’s preschool program, relative to neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia, affected: (1) the proportion of the population of families with young children; and (2) maternal labor force participation. 

Author

• Taryn W. Morrissey, American University
  Presenting Author