State officials attributed the delay to rigorous building inspection procedures required of early-education facilities that took longer than expected and required additional construction in some cases.

Child care in New Jersey can be more expensive than housing, and infant care can cost more than a minimum-wage job pays, according to a new survey of child-care costs in the state. The study, "Child Care Wage & Benefit Survey and Child Care Market Rates," released yesterday, also found that child-care workers in New Jersey earned $16,900, below the federal poverty level for a family of four.

Even as it makes cuts in day care -- a move that could end up swelling Louisiana's welfare rolls -- the Foster administration is setting aside $10 million to expand prekindergarten in the state. Expanding one promising benefit while slashing one on which families already rely isn't a reasonable trade.

Children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs arrive at school with better language skills and can get along better with their peers. They are 40 percent less likely to need special education or be held back a grade.

On Wednesday, Gov. Gary Locke and top legislative Democrats unveiled an ambitious new Education Trust Fund financed by a permanent, dedicated tax to improve the public education system from preschool through college. The idea is to enhance the school and higher education budgets, not to find a way to pay for what lawmakers already finance, the governor and state schools chief Terry Bergeson told a news conference.

A recently released report entitled, "The Well-Being of Young Children in Middletown" says the program has been an unmitigated success in preparing young children socially and academically for elementary school, and giving poor and minority families greater access to preschool. The report cites developmental tests given to all children entering kindergarten in 2001-02 academic year, showing the longer a child spends in preschool, the better their motor, conceptual and language skills.

The idea behind the award-winning "Rolling with Pre-K" program evolved into a collaborative effort between school-district officials and community partners. The buses, BUST'R (Building Upon Strength Through Reading) and BETSIE (Bringing Everyone Technological Success in Education) were remodeled by a local high school woodshop class and then outfitted with generators, toilets, and donated laptop computers.

Gov. Mike Foster's proposed budget cuts $15 million out of a $135 million program that helps low-income families cover child-care costs.

On Friday, the metro area's most competitive private schools, such as Pace Academy, the Westminster Schools and Lovett School, mailed letters to let parents know whether their children would be welcome in the fall --- a letter many parents view as a predictor of whether thick or thin envelopes will arrive when it's time to apply to college. About 41,000 metro Atlanta students attend private schools, which is about 6 percent of the school-age population, according to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.