Well before President Barack Obama vaulted early childhood learning to the top of the education agenda in his recent State of the Union address, states were taking steps to bolster their own preschool programs. More than a dozen states--including some, such as Hawaii and Mississippi, that have had no state-financed preschool programs in the past--are currently eyeing proposals to launch or expand early education. Leaders in those states say that they're interested in the president's still-evolving proposal to provide incentives for states to create or expand high-quality birth-to-5 programs, with a focus on low- and middle-income access. But some say they don't want any such federal money--the amount of which has yet to be specified, let alone appropriated--to come with cumbersome requirements.