Calif. Voters Reject Universal Pre-K Initiative

Foes raised questions on plan’s benefits, costs to taxpayers.

The defeat of the Preschool for All initiative in California last week is unlikely to slow the pace at which public preschool programs have been growing in other states, national experts said. Still, the outcome was a major disappointment for its backers in the Golden State.

California voters decisively rejected the proposal on the June 6 primary-election ballot that would have taxed the state’s wealthiest residents so that all of its 4-year-olds could attend preschool for free. More than 60 percent of those who went to the polls voted against the measure, which would have added a 1.7 percent income tax on individuals making at least $400,000 and couples earning more than $800,000 a year.

Walter S. Gilliam, an associate research scientist at the Yale University Child Study Center, said he didn’t think the failure of the initiative, Proposition 82, would have much impact on the pace of pre-K...