Who participates in state-funded preschool programs? As a part their Fall 2013 BPEA paper "Expanding Access to High-Quality Preschool Education," Elizabeth U. Cascio and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach examined trends in the overall public and private preschool enrollment rates of 4-year-olds by maternal education.
The preschool demand gap
Historically, more-advantaged families have had a stronger demand for preschool than their less-advantaged peers, although that gap has narrowed somewhat in recent years.