A little more than three months ago, Sen. Shannon O’Brien, D-Missoula, made the latest legislative pitch for publicly funded preschool in Montana. Echoing a pair of early childhood education advocates who testified earlier in the session, she noted on the Senate floor that the state is one of only six that doesn’t offer such an option. Her proposed solution, hashed out by lawmakers between the 2019 and 2021 sessions, was to give school districts the option — and, if they chose, the funding — to establish free pre-K programs for students ages 3 to 5.

“I’m not talking about the opportunity for us to spend money for cute little boys and girls to sit criss-cross applesauce and read Dr. Suess books,” O’Brien said. “I’m talking about brain development so that our children are ready to learn and ready to work.”