First lady Jill Biden was in Montgomery on Friday to visit a new pre-school classroom at Maxwell Air Force Base that she said could be a blueprint for early education programs across the nation.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin joined Biden on the visit to Alabama to draw attention to an initiative to offer better pre-kindergarten opportunities for military families.
Biden said Maxwell and 80 other military bases are offering programs to give pre-school children the foundation to become strong readers and achieve academic success. The school at Maxwell is about one month old.
Biden said she worked as a reading specialist for high school students and learned the pitfalls for students who fall behind in the earliest grades, according to the prepared remarks for the first lady released by the White House.
“If we want kids to succeed in school and their careers—if we want to set them on a lifelong path of learning—we need to invest in them from the very beginning,” Biden said.
The Biden administration supports free, high-quality pre-kindergarten across America, the White House said.
Aside from the new school at Maxwell, Alabama has a free early education for 4-year-olds called First Class Pre-K. It is not available statewide but the Legislature and governor’s office have supported its expansion in recent year. The program has consistently won top marks for quality from the National Institute for Early Education Research.
Biden’s plane arrived in Montgomery shortly after noon. Officials greeting the first lady included Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, Montgomery County Commission Chair Doug Singleton, and Col. Shamekia N. Toliver, commander of 42nd Air Base Wing at Maxwell, and others.
Austin was expected to talk about efforts to address financial and career challenges faced by military families to help retain service members and improve recruiting.
The Army, Marine Corps and Air Force expect to meet recruitment goals this year, but the Navy said it may fall short, the White House said in the press release about today’s visit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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