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Coakley pegs early education plan at $150 million per year

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Martha Coakley today put a price tag on her plan to get Massachusetts children off waitlists for early childhood education programs: $150 million per year.

Noting that thousands of children are on waitlists for early education programs, the Coakley campaign said in a news release that her plan would spend $150 million per year — to be phased in over four years — to expand educational opportunities for 3- and 4-year olds. The plan would expand a state voucher program to help low-income families pay for early education for their kids, a Coakley aide said.

“All children ... deserve a fair shot to reach their potential, and that starts with offering universal access to early education,” Coakley said in the release. “It’s unacceptable that 17,000 children are unable to access to these important programs, and I’m committed in investing in those kids and their future.”

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Coakley’s Republican rival, Charlie Baker, has criticized Coakley for proposing billions of dollars in new spending.

Baker’s campaign has cited her support for universal pre-K as part the cost Baker is referring to. His campaign pointed to a study that found one route to expanding early childhood education would be to offer public pre-kindergarten to all 3- and 4-year-olds in the state not currently receiving public support. That option would cost $1.48 billion annually, which would be split between municipalities and the state, the study, from the left leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, found.

“It is disappointing that the attorney general is only now coming clean with voters that she made a promise she couldn’t keep, and telling she now agrees with Charlie that prekindergarten is best employed in a targeted fashion for struggling districts — a position she once cynically attacked,” said Tim Buckley, a spokesman for Baker.

Also running for governor are three independent candidates: Evan Falchuk, Scott Lively and Jeff McCormick.

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Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos.