The announcement came from President Emmanuel Macron, who lowered from 6 the age at which children are required to go to school.

Already in France, 97.6 percent of children go to school starting at age 3. However, Macron wants the other 2.4 percent to go, too; that translates to between 20,000 and 30,000 children.

High up on the list of reasons for making the move, the president said, was to lower the school-attending disparity between children who live within France's borders and those who live in the country's overseas territories. At present, only 70 percent of 3-year-olds in overseas territories attend school.

The regulation, which would create the lowest compulsory school starting age in the European Union, comes into effect in September 2019. For most countries in Europe, that age is 6. A handful of Baltic and Eastern European countries list the starting age as 7. In the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, and Wales have a starting age of 5 and Northern Ireland a starting age of 4. The minimum age in the U.S. varies by state, with the lowest age being 5.