A clear majority of Americans agree: high-quality preschool should be guaranteed by the public, just as our primary and secondary schools are. It’s an idea that Democrats are hoping to add to their legacy — something to stand along aside Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and the Earned Income Tax Credit as lasting institutions in American life. But it’s also a policy that even business-minded Republicans have reason to support. Not only does it provide a cost-effective educational intervention for our kids; it also gives their parents the freedom to participate in the job market.

On July 7, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania introduced legislation to Congress proposing state-run pre-kindergarten programs that would be freely available to families earning less than $48,000 a year. Unfortunately, Casey’s bill, which was an amendment to No Child Left Behind, has stalled on Capitol Hill. However, at the state level, several Republican governors have already gotten behind their own proposals, creating bipartisan support for an issue whose time has come.

Around the world, early childhood education has long been understood as a necessary feature of modern economies. Japan provides publicly funded kindergartens for children ages 3-6. Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Demark, Estonia, Malta and Slovenia all guarantee children as young as 1 the legal right to a preschool seat, with programs often beginning around the end of parental leave. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal and Hungary, among others, subsidized childcare begins at age 3. According to the European Commission, children in these countries are typically entitled to early childhood education and care free of charge.

In the U.S. there is strong popular support for following this example. According to an August, 2014 Gallup poll, 70 percent of Americans “favor using federal money to make sure high-quality preschool education programs are available for every child in America.” A 2013 poll from Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research found that 86 percent of Americans “want the federal government to help states and local communities build better preschool services and make them more accessible to children from low- and middle-income families.”

Alone, these numbers should give pause to politicians who oppose federally funded universal pre-K. But there’s an economic basis for it, too.

Economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman argues that the earlier investments are made in an individual’s education, the larger their returns later in life — in terms of academic achievement, employment and income. Furthermore, investing in early childhood education can trim social spending in other areas, by reducing crime, teen pregnancy and preventable health problems.

“If you take disadvantaged, minority children starting at age six to eight weeks — I mean, they’re literally just born — and you follow these kids and give them intensive interventions for about eight years, you can boost their IQ at least up to age 21,” Heckman told PBS.