this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
114 points (96.0% liked)

politics

28400 readers
2096 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

There were once so many children at Frisha Moore’s Elk Grove preschool that families filled up the waitlist. Now, one of her playgrounds and two classrooms sit empty because one key group of kids has stopped coming.

Dozens of families in recent years have opted not to enroll their 4-year-olds at Moore Learning Preschool & Child Care Center, she said. Instead, they’re putting their children in transitional kindergarten, California’s new public pre-kindergarten grade.

Even though she provides a full day of preschool, compared with transitional kindergarten that lasts only about 3.5 hours, Moore can’t compete: Public school is free. She hasn’t broken even in months and thinks about closing the preschool, “every single day.” That would remove 91 licensed child care spots from the county, including 20 for children under age 2, for whom child care options are particularly scarce.

Transitional kindergarten’s expansion is one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature educational achievements and a key part of his legacy on how California cares for its youngest residents.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 20 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

The real issue is that kids have to be at least four years old for the pre-K program, so kids younger than that have limited options if the local daycare closes. Babies and kids who aren't potty-trained are more expensive to care for than older kids, so those parents may not be able to afford care now.

I still think the expanded pre-K is a good idea, but it would be nice if the state offered daycare subsidies or something to support the younger kids who still need daycare.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 9 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Decent point. But yeah just expand community care etc. This is one of the easiest things to do with the biggest positive community and social benefit. It's should be a no-brainer. Sadly, too many people have something worse than no brains. Some sort of moldy diseased mush that makes them think, exploitative rent seeking behavior in childcare is a good idea. Rather than quality and sustainability.

[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, expanding social services for child care is almost always the right move, especially if you want people to even consider having kids. No program is perfect, and putting daycares out of business is unfortunate, but you can solve each problem as it comes up. The frustrating thing is that political opponents will just shit all over something like this and argue that it should be cancelled entirely.