During his State of the State address last week, Governor Murphy pledged to make free full day kindergarten a mandate in New Jersey, along with expanding universal pre-K. Well, today, the administration hit the road, visiting kindergarten classes in West Windsor to get critical buy in from educators and parents.

While the legislature decides whether to approve state aid that will help get the proposal off the ground.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports.

As a district, we have much to be proud of.

But the move to full day care is one of the brightest.

Spots.

And one of the brightest accomplishments in recent years.

West Windsor Plainsboro School District made the move to full day kindergarten last year, leaving New Jersey with only about a dozen districts out of nearly 600 that don't already offer full day care.

But that's about to change.

I can think of no better place for us to come together today and reaffirming our shared commitment to making free full day pre-K as well as free full day kindergarten a reality in every community in New Jersey.

As realities go full day kindergarten is one that'll be required for all districts if a bill passes that was drafted by Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz and is backed by Governor Murphy.

The pre-K expansion, well, you can call that more of a goal.

More on that in a moment.

Kindergarten is critical, says Ruiz, in.

Supporting our working families, structures and understanding that investment in early education is critical to academic success.

So how much will that investment cost the state?

The amount of incremental money, to your question as well, to get to full day K everywhere, I don't have it off the top of my head, but this is not a big lift.

We just got to get it done.

And the legislature will have to agree with him.

But whatever the price tag, Ruiz says, it's worth it.

The numbers are clear.

For every dollar that you put in in early childhood, setting the investment back on the R.I. is anywhere from 9 to $13.

The governor worked, you know, on on Wall Street.

He knows that.

I don't think there is one stock that you can put a dollar in today that will guarantee you $13 on the return on its investment.

And it's making investment in human capital, which is what government is intended to do.

David Dreibelbis is a dad in the West Windsor Plainsboro district who sees the impact of four day K in his own family.

Our older daughter attended the half day program and our younger the full day.

The clear and positive impact of full day kindergarten is easy to see.

Additional time in the classroom allows for more practice with learning concepts one on one time with teachers, and the chance to experience special classes and unstructured play.

District administrators here said they saw a difference as well.

In just one year that all of the professionals have already noticed improved literacy rates among the district's youngest students, and they have observed a significant reduction in the achievement gap, as measured as to how those students perform when they get to first grade after having been in full day care.

Typically, school funding is allocated through the broader budgeting process, but this bill isolates kindergarten and pre-K expansion funding.

It's all part of phase two of the state's strategic plan for preschool expansion.

And in order to help the state reach those goals, Ruiz is calling for a major structural change.

If you haven't seen my op ed, I am calling for a Department of Early Childhood because if we put all these pieces together under one umbrella, we pay more significant attention to it.

We have greater interconnected responsibility from all the departments that oversee early childhood.

From the Department of Health, of Children and Families, Human Services, Education.

The list goes on.

If we did this in a very methodical way and responsible way, we've seen other states like Illinois, and I want to say Maryland.

What it does is it leans in and creates a greater focus on those early ages, zero to third grade.

And then you can just streamline everything for a provider.

It's a one stop shopping for a parent, it becomes a one stop shop.

She makes a fair point.

There's a lot of stuff that's located in different neighborhoods right now, and she made a pretty compelling argument that if you brought them under one roof, you might get a one plus one equals three.

So color me open minded.

These priorities will have to be laid out in a budget which will be presented in about a month.

But this is just one more step in this Murphy administration's focus on education and expanding access and equity for our youngest learners.

In West Windsor, I'm Joanna Gagis, NJ Spotlight News.