Gov. Phil Murphy used a visit to a Jamesburg elementary school yesterday to talk about his addition of $53 million to pre-K programs, an earnest of his campaign promise to broaden access to such programs statewide with universal pre-K as the eventual goal.

“I think it’s fair to say we’re all in violent agreement that investments in pre-K are among the smartest investments we can make,” Murphy said, noting that for every dollar invested in pre-K, $7 eventually comes back to society.

The new money is earmarked for the creation of 5,300 new preschool slots. Right now, the state has 28,000 students in public pre-K.

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