The achievement gap between school districts in high-income neighborhoods and those in low-income ones is already more canyon than crack, and if $1.7 trillion in automatic sequestration cuts are allowed to go into effect on March 1, that gap could grow even wider.

Dozens of education programs would face reduced funding, but three crucial programs — No Child Left Behind, Head Start initiatives, and the Individuals with Disabilities Act — provide the most assistance to low-income students and also face the sharpest cuts if the sequester is allowed to go into effect, as the Center for American Progress’ Juliana Herman and Kaitlin Pennington detailed in a new report:

Altogether, the sequester would cut approximately $725 million from Title I funding, potentially affecting 2,700 schools, impacting 1.2 million students, and placing 9,880 education staff at risk of losing their jobs. [...]

Head Start and Early Head Start—a similar program for infants—both work to ensure that parental income does not determine whether a child will be able to learn during these influential years. But should sequestration happen next week, approximately 70,000 children will be kicked out of Head Start due to inadequate funding. [...]

If sequestration goes through, funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Act could be reduced by as much as $579 million.

In all, the report estimates, the cuts would impact as many as 1.2 million children, 30,000 teachers and 2,700 schools, the overwhelming majority of which will be from low-income communities.

Recent studies have shown the devastating correlation between income and student achievement. Since the late 1980s, the gap in metrics like college completion between students from high-income and low-income households grew by more than 50 percent.

Last week, Fox News attacked President Obama’s proposal for expanding universal early childhood education by characterizing it as a government handout intended to extend “literally, the nanny state” and warned that the president is using preschool to entice a whole new generation of toddlers to vote for him.

On Sunday, the network’s sister station, Fox Business, continued its attacks, as host Gerri Willis called the effort “immoral“:

WILLIS: I have to tell you, I think it’s immoral to make all of these promises, when you know you can’t afford it, we can’t afford it. Preschool for everyone, are you kidding me? We don’t have the money for that! … This is just crazy talk and I think it’s immoral to put this across as something that’s actually doable, when it’s not.

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Universal preschool programs increase the likelihood of a child going to college and decrease drop out rates, teen pregnancies, and criminal behavior. And while President Obama has pledged that the proposals included in his State of the Union address will not contribute to the deficit, studies show that investing in children when they’re young generates up to “$11 of economic benefits over a child’s lifetime for every dollar spent initially on the program.”

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) shot down President Obama’s proposal for universal pre-school education during an appearance on CSPAN’s Washington Journal on Friday, complaining that the plan — first unveiled during last week’s State of the Union address — would force teachers to fill out too much paperwork.

“You know, I had an email from a teacher as [Obama] was giving the speech, someone I’ve known for a long time and it was, ‘Are you kidding me? More paperwork?’” Blackburn said. She went on to argue that education should be handled by state and local governments:

BLACKBURN: And I think so many of our educators when they hear about these programs coming from the federal government, they’re just thinking, uh, that’s another book of paperwork that I’m going to have to do and teachers are so weighed down with that. The teachers I’m talking about, they want state and local control…They would just like the states with control of education.

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Obama’s proposal to expand preschool education to all American children will be financed in partnership with the states and is based on successful models in Georgia and Oklahoma. The U.S. Department of Education “will allocate dollars to states based their share of four-year olds from low- and moderate-income families and funds would be distributed to local school districts and other partner providers to implement the program,” a White House fact sheet on the initiative states.

Preschool substantially reduces the likelihood that a child will later drop out of high school, become a teen parent, or be arrested for a violent crime. Studies have determined universal preschool programs generate roughly $7 in savings per child and increases human capital.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama made the case for universal early childhood education — an idea that isn’t sitting well with conservatives.

On Friday, Fox Business host Stuart Varney and Fox News host Steve Doocy attacked preschool access as a government handout intended to extend “literally, the nanny state.” Varney echoed an argument used by former presidential candidate Mitt Romney that Obama won the election by giving “gifts” to women and minorities. Even though Obama cannot run for office a third time, the host warned the president is using preschool to entice a whole new generation of toddlers to support him when they’re eligible in 15 years:

VARNEY: Look what the president is doing here, it’s a repeat performance of his campaign, which is you raise taxes on the rich and you offer all kinds of free stuff to people who will vote for you in the future. Free preschool education for 4-year-olds, it’s free, here it is. Hand out the goodies.

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In fact, preschool substantially reduces the likelihood that a child will later drop out of high school, become a teen parent, or be arrested for a violent crime. Studies have determined universal preschool programs generate roughly $7 in savings per child and increases human capital.

Varney and Doocy are hardly the only conservatives suspicious of preschool. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) has called for ending childhood education programs because they “indoctrinate” children to make them dependent on government at an early age.

Other “gifts” Obama has been accused of using to influence voters are Obamacare, his DREAM directive, and partial college loan forgiveness.

With successful programs that boost preschool education facing significant budget cuts at the end of the month, President Obama laid out an ambitious plan to expand preschool education to all American children during his State of the Union address Tuesday. Programs like Head Start and Early Head Start have increased access to early childhood education among America’s youth, but significant gaps in access remain for children in low- and middle-income families.

A universal access plan could close those gaps while making sure “none of our children start the race of life already behind,” Obama said:

Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let’s do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that chance.

Expanded childhood education would have substantial benefits for children who receive it. Chicago’s preschool program generates “$11 of economic benefits over a child’s lifetime for every dollar spent initially on the program,” according to one study, and at-risk youth who receive early childhood education are more likely to go to college and less likely to drop out of school, become teen parents, or commit violent crimes.

The benefits aren’t relegated to the children who receive better education. A 2009 study found that universal programs lead to increases in both human capital and the nation’s gross domestic product, while other studies found that every dollar spent on early childhood education generates roughly $7 in savings. A universal program would save money by reducing societal and economic costs later in the child’s life, while also increasing social and economic mobility for the children who receive it.

The Center for American Progress released a universal preschool plan last week that, at a cost of $98 billion over the next decade, would provide matching federal funds to make state programs stronger.

North Carolina’s Health and Human Services Department has entrusted the state’s Child Development and Early Education division to Dianna Lightfoot, a staunch opponent to early childhood education. Lightfoot founded the National Physicians Center, an organization primarily devoted to abstinence education. Starting Monday, Lightfoot will oversee the child-care and pre-kindergarten education programs she has denigrated for years.

In an open letter, Lightfoot’s organization attacked institutional pre-school programs, claiming they make children dependent on the government:

“In the case of early childhood education programs, available research suggests they may actually be inferior to early learning opportunities at home. In addition, it appears the demand for out of home childcare is not as prevalent as many advocates claim,” says an open letter signed by Lightfoot on the group’s website.

The letter also warns that “There is great potential for early learning institutions to foster more dependency on the government (i.e. taxpayer) and more of an entitlement mentality.”

“Will institutions focus on character building and teaching strong values? If so, whose values will children be taught?” it asks.

Lightfoot is hardly alone in her idea that pre-school breeds dependency; conservatives as prominent as former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) have called for dismantling early childhood education because it “indoctrinates” children for the government.

Lightfoot’s open letter also quotes a 1997 Glamour poll as evidence that most mothers prefer to keep their children home from pre-school. However, there is far more evidence that pre-kindergarten programs immensely benefit children throughout their lives. As a new Center for American Progress report notes, a child without early education is 25 percent more likely to drop out of school, 40 percent more likely to become a teenage parent, and 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime.

Lightfoot also scrubbed her Twitter account on Wednesday after a progressive group published her tweet from July 2011 mocking then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “butch” and praising Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) for maintaining their “femininity.” On her Facebook page, she lashed out at Chick-fil-a for following the “lead of a weak, appeasing president” and toning down its anti-gay activism.