D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray in the next month or so is slated to introduce legislation to make pre-kindergarten available to every 3- and 4-year-old in the nation’s capital, an idea that would costs tens of millions of dollars to implement. Gray told The Examiner on Friday that the bill will, in all likelihood, be unveiled in November and worked on at the council level for months after that. The exact language of the legislation hasn’t been written, but there are two basic goals: expand pre-K access to all, and improve the quality of all pre-K programs so that they’re accredited.

“The payoff is obvious,” Gray said. “It’s to give these kids a real start on their schooling.... Frankly, how can anyone be against giving kids an earlier start?”

In the past, Council Member Vincent Orange backed a similar bill, except his legislation went one step further and made pre-kindergarten a requirement for youngsters.

This time around, the feeling among education advocates and members of the government is that there’s fairly widespread support.

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Gray has been working on the initiative with organizations dedicated to the issue of expanded pre-K.

The chairman said he is working out the details about the length of time during which the pre-K expansion would be phased in as well as where the money would come from.

“We’ll have to look at cost and see what is affordable over a number of years,” he added.

The recommendation from the group Pre-K For All is it will take four to six years at a price tag of between $45 million and $60 million for startup costs.

Currently, 70 percent of 4-year-olds and 30 percent of 3-year-olds are involved in some type of early childhood education program. That leaves a gap of 2,000 who are without, according to Pre-K For All Campaign Manager Jesse Bailey.

D.C. has been a national leader in the pre-kindergarten movement, having started offering it in 1973.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com