President Barack Obama stressed reaching children early when he spoke about education in the State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
"The problem is we’re still not reaching enough kids, and we’re not reaching them in time. That has to change," he said.
He repeated his call from last year that congress would work out a cost-sharing arrangement to help states provide "high quality preK to every 4-year-old."
"As a parent as well as a president, I repeat that request tonight. But in the meantime, thirty states have raised pre-k funding on their own. They know we can’t wait," he said.
Obama also said it was important to connect 99 percent of students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. He announced that companies including Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon had given a "downpayment" to start connecting 20 million students over the next two years.
Obama said he also was reaching out to American foundations and corporations on a new plan to "help more men of color facing tough odds to stay on track and reach their full potential."