Back in 1998, Alex Penelas was the mayor of Miami-Dade County in Florida, a jurisdiction of 2.4 million people, larger than 16 states in the Union. One afternoon, he was visited by Dave Lawrence, then publisher of The Miami Herald, who encouraged him to "pay attention to children's issues," which he admits, he was not doing at that time. He investigated the topic and, in September 1999, convened the Mayor's Children's Summit, a gathering of 4,500 people, to discuss the circumstances of Miami-Dade's and Florida's children. The message he heard most at the summit was that children in Florida urgently needed high-quality early education.

The concerns of parents, child advocates, pediatricians, and others at the event, recalled for Mr. Penelas his own children's early education experience. "It made sense to me since I had seen the incredible head start my own kids had because of my ability to pay for pre-k." He also understood that children's opportunities for success should not depend upon their parents' financial means, that families who are either able to foot the bill themselves or so poor as to qualify for public assistance should not be the only ones eligible for early education. So, securing pre-k for all Florida four year olds became a cornerstone of his administration's agenda.

Newly galvanized and aware that legislative efforts on the issue had fallen very short, Mr. Penelas and a coalition of pre-k supporters "decided to go straight to the voters. From the summit, we already knew how they felt on the issue; so we were confident in broad support." Thus began a constitutional-amendment process that would take over two years and cost 2.8 million dollars.

The first step in the process was to draft the amendment. "We had 75 words - that's all - to get it legally and substantively right." They enlisted constitutional lawyers to review and advise on the language of the measure, and when they had it perfect, they began collecting signatures. To get pre-k for all on the ballot, they needed 488,000 registered voters to sign the petition. When they had ten percent of the required signatures, their amendment became subject to a state supreme court review. The measure passed constitutional muster and eventually qualified for the ballot, garnering a total of 722,000 signatures.

Mr. Penelas says that the public response was enthusiastic, and he points particularly to the supportive role played by Florida's business community. The money needed to develop and promote the measure came entirely from private sources. "I had the bully pulpit," he says of his role in building support and raising funds. "But people were convinced on the merits and by the fact that it's obviously a good investment."

The Florida pre-k amendment passed by a vote of 59 percent to 41 percent in November 2002. Some state legislators who declined to support pre-k for all initially have continued to resist program quality, appropriating less than ideal funds once the measure was enacted. Mr. Penelas recognizes that the fight for early education in Florida isn't over. Though the mandate is in place, he says satisfying it will require much more work. The coalition of business leaders, voters, and advocates that he helped to build during the initiative process must continue challenging a resistant legislature and governor to achieve high quality.

And there are other concerns. Florida is a tremendously diverse state, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically. Meeting the needs of all the state's four year olds will mean providing appropriate services for every population.

Nevertheless, Mr. Penelas is rightfully proud of what has already been accomplished. "With all that remains to be done," he says, "there's still no greater satisfaction than knowing that last Monday (August 8, 2005), nearly 100,000 four year olds began school a whole year earlier and that communities are benefiting from what we did."