The state also has below-average preschool enrollment — while 40 percent of children here attend preschool, Utah is among a dozen states without a state-sponsored program. Peterson says some of it has to do with Utahns preferring to keep children home at that age.

The report calls attention to early childhood education because research shows it boosts children's chances for academic success and evens the playing field between the haves and the have-nots.

That research also has been a hot topic in Utah, where Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and the State Board of Education want the Legislature to pay for optional, all-day kindergarten for low-income children as a way to narrow achievement gaps between the haves and have-nots. The idea failed in the past Legislature.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper and co-chairman of the schools' budget committee, on the other hand, is pitching legislation to give parents tools, through outreach programs, to better prepare their children for kindergarten.

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