John Edwards wants to make Smart Start national.
In a speech at a Des Moines middle school Friday, the Democratic presidential candidate unveiled an education reform plan that included a nationwide version of North Carolina's early childhood education program, the Boston Globe reports.
Edwards unveiled a similar initiative, called "Great Promise," during his 2004 campaign for president.
The new plan also calls for a partnership to pay teachers more to work in high-poverty schools, create a national teachers university to recruit and train teachers and overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act.
"I grew up in a small, rural town and my parents didn't have a lot of money," Edwards said in a statement. "But I was lucky to have public school teachers who taught me to believe that somebody from a little town in North Carolina could do just about anything if he worked hard and played by the rules."
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