Gov. Mitt Romney has vetoed a bill that would have helped create universal pre-kindergarten, but advocates say they will revive the measure next year.

The governor vetoed “An Act Relative to Early Education and Care” Friday, saying the state should wait for the results of a new pilot program before taking further action. The bill did not have an appropriation tied to it, but the governor called it “another expensive entitlement which by some estimates will cost taxpayers upwards of $1 billion a year. By passing this bill, the Legislature is laying the groundwork for future tax increases.”

State Rep. Patricia A. Haddad, D-Somerset, said she would reintroduce the legislation next year. “It was to give the commissioner the ability to come back to the Legislature with a five-year plan … to talk about what a universally accessible program looked like,” Ms. Haddad said.

That would include determining how many hours a day the program would operate and whether parents would pay on a sliding scale.

“The whole thing was to move this in a very thoughtful way towards universal accessible (pre-school). Nobody has said that this was going to be a totally free program.”

Early Education for All, a Boston-based group advocating for free universal pre-kindergarten, estimated several years ago that it could cost $1 billion a year, but the group is working on a more detailed estimate that it expects will be lower, said Carolyn E. Lyons, chief operating officer for the group. Whatever the cost, the group believes the program and cost should be phased in, she added.

Both the Legislature and the governor approved a $4.6 million pilot pre-kindergarten program last month. The state Department of Early Education and Care will probably present options to its board in October and could have the program up and running in January, department staff said last month.