President Barack Obama has emerged as the most powerful supporter of early learning in years at a time when a recession stands as the biggest threat to its progress, and that tension is posing difficult questions about future spending on childcare and pre-kindergarten.

The Great Recession is reshaping the early learning landscape, forcing states to cut or freeze spending on child care, leading parents to pull their kids out of care and straining their ability to pay for quality. Together, these forces are damaging an economic model for child care that was already breaking down.

Yet, Pre-K Now offers powerful evidence about the need for quality early learning and how a recession effects children’s development in its newsletter “Pre-K Picks.” As importantly, it focuses on how quality preschool and pre-k are key elements of the foundation of our future economic growth. (You have to join Pre-K Now’s website to get the e-newsletter.)

For example, last month, the President’s Council on Economic Advisers said we need to pay attention to quality preschools as we prepare a more competitive workforce.

The most important “post-high school” education and training reform is a strong early childhood and elementary and secondary education system. – Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow, July 2009. A growing body of rigorous evidence suggests children who attend high quality pre-school are more likely to complete more years of education, attend four-year colleges, go on to hold skilled jobs, and earn higher wages.

Obviously, the guy the council wrote this for agrees. But even with such a powerful ally I’m already hearing advocates worry about next year’s federal funding battles. Unfortunately, budget deficits and the national debt matter because both can sway bond markets, effect borrowing and become fodder for fiscal conservatives in Congress. How long can Obama push through tens of billions of new dollars for child care and pre-k before those arguments stall his efforts, especially if the economy doesn’t enjoy a strong and sustained rally?

This is the trillion dollar question: What will the economic recovery look like? We are only beginning to get a sense, and it could be the recovery no one notices thanks to chronic high unemployment. If state tax revenues don’t pick up, many programs will suffer, including early learning initiatives.

I have more questions than research today. Check out Pre-K Now’s excellent collection of resources, research and links at “How the economy and young children's development impact each other” and help me get some answers.