An early start: Alpine County already spells preschool 'F-R-E-E'.

Byline: Laurel Rosenhall

May 20--WOODFORDS -- Like most 4-year-olds in California, Megan and Nathan Cruz spend their days away from home, in a bright colorful room where they draw, sing, socialize and learn the letters of the alphabet.

Unlike most children in California -- whose parents pay an average $7,500 a year for child care -- the twins attend a preschool that costs their parents nothing. The unusual program in Alpine County -- a rugged 727-square-mile stretch of the Sierra south of Lake Tahoe -- offers both a glimpse of California's rural past and a vision of what could become the state's educational future. Using public money generated by cigarette taxes, Alpine County has already done what the rest of California is now contemplating under Proposition 82 on the June ballot. For the past three years, it has provided free preschool to nearly all children whose parents want it. On a recent day at Alpine Early Learning Center, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and green pastures with cows and horses grazing, Nathan made a paper blue jay by cutting out the shape of a bird and coloring it blue. Megan drew a green…