The plight of about 5,000 youngsters who are falling into the educational gap — too young for regular public school now that the Department of Education is disbanding its junior kindergarten program — highlights the need for high-quality, affordable preschool programs in Hawaii.

Earlier this year, the Legislature voted to end the DOE’s junior kindergarten option for late-born 4-year-olds, a program that was launched with great fanfare in 2006 as a way to ensure more students enter elementary school ready to learn. To enroll in public kindergarten for the 2014-15 school year, a child must turn 5 by July 31; the roughly 5,000 kids whose birthdays are later than that are looking at another year of preschool or child care in some other setting, on their family’s dime or with the help of $6 million worth of taxpayer subsidies for needy families and populations considered at-risk or underserved.

The subsidies will be available for application this spring through the state’s Preschool Open Doors program, but they are estimated to serve only about one-fifth of those children affected by junior kindergarten’s elimination. This adds new urgency to the question of how Hawaii can best serve its youngest learners — as well as the taxpayers who help fund these efforts and ultimately share in the benefits that come from living in a well-educated society.

When the DOE’s junior kindergarten did not live up to its potential and the rollback was announced, the decision was seen as a half-step toward developing a more comprehensive, publicly funded pre-K program for 4-year-olds throughout the state. Hawaii is one of 11 U.S. states that does not offer universal preschool.

Proponents consider preschool an essential part of the educational foundation that will serve students throughout their lives, and jump-start the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today’s high-stakes Common Core setting. Critics don’t want to pay for what they consider day care for the children of working parents, and insist that any program that could cost taxpayers $125 million a year once fully implemented be based on a proven educational model that provides lasting benefits.

Hawaii voters will address this question next year, when they decide on a constitutional amendment asking whether they support spending public money on private early-education programs. Approval would allow the state to funnel tuition money to private preschools operating high-quality programs.

Given the high interest in this topic now — when thousands of families are trying to figure out where to enroll their "gap kids" next school year — advocates such as Hawaii’s Good Beginnings Alliance would do well to capitalize on the moment and make a stronger argument for universal preschool on its educational merits. Case studies abound, in states such as Oklahoma, a GOP stronghold that belies the notion that support for early-ed is a "liberal" issue.

Oklahoma started its prekindergarten program as a pilot project in 1980, expanding and making it permanent in 1998. It provides free pre-K for all 4-year-olds, regardless of family income. The class is optional, but 80 percent of eligible children attend. Researchers at Georgetown University have been following the program since 2001, and cite students’ gains in literacy, math and social skills. Lead researcher William T. Gormley Jr. concludes that the benefits likely outweigh the costs "by a substantial margin," for both low-income and middle-class children.

Universal preschool, if it ever comes to Hawaii, may come too late for today’s "gap kids." But the school scramble their parents are facing has renewed attention on the importance of high-quality preschool and should galvanize further action.