State-funded preschool enrollment reached record levels, driven by expanded universal access policies and unprecedented spending. A new report by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University says enrollment rose to 1.8 million 4-year-olds nationwide, covering 37% of 4-year-olds, with 44,000 additional children added. The growth is uneven: more than half the increase came from California, after it made every 4-year-old eligible for transitional kindergarten. The report cautions that rapid scaling can outpace quality, pointing to benchmark shortfalls tied to teacher training and class size. It also highlights states that meet all quality benchmarks while others lag. For higher-ed and workforce policy stakeholders, the implication is clear: early childhood program capacity is increasing, but the research question is whether quality infrastructure will keep up—especially as states rely on these settings to support family stability and later K-12 outcomes.