Free Pre-K Education

I see this on eduwonk:

But there is a bigger disconnect here: Where’s the big agenda and the resources? I’m hardly a throw money at the problem kind of guy, but big ideas do often have a commensurate price tag. Sara Mead’s bummed that McCain didn’t talk about pre-kindergarten education. Me too especially because pre-k is exactly the kind of public-private choice driven system Republicans claim to like so much. But I’m even more disappointed that while overall McCain says we need to get past conventional thinking on this issue, something I agree with wholeheartedly, he doesn’t provide a roadmap or the resources to do that.

What? Republicans want to spend more Federal tax dollars on education? Are they out of their minds?

The big agenda should be to get the Federal Government out of education. After all the primary responsibility lies with the (wait for it) parents. The Federal Government is the furthest away, and the least efficient provider of resources.

As for pre-K, the discussion I've seen indicates a short-term gain but not long term benefit. Surely such choices should be made by parents who have the most direct interest in their children's education, and the least likely to be swayed by savvy well-funded special interests and lobbyists. Teachers unions for example.

Disclaimer - I don't currently live in the US. Have, but don't. I also don't use public education. We home school. Imagine that.