Nearly 17,400 4-year-olds in Michigan from working class families could be eligible for taxpayer-funded, full-day preschool under an early education investment plan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed on Tuesday.
Whitmer proposed a three-year, $405 million expansion of the Great Start Readiness…
Governor Gretchen Whitmer Tuesday called for expanding the publicly funded Great Start Readiness pre-school program to all eligible four-year-old children.
June 9, 2021
From the Associated Press Governor Gretchen Whitmer has proposed expanding government-funded preschool to 22,000 eligible but unenrolled 4-year-olds in Michigan, saying too many cannot access an “incredible opportunity” because of inadequate funding. The expansion is designed to ensure all 65,000 eligible kids can attend either through the federal Head Start program or the state’s Great Start Readiness Program, which covers kids whose families make up to 250% of the federal poverty level. It would be funded with an infusion of $250 million in federal coronavirus relief aid and $155 million in state dollars. Whitmer says spending on preschool pays “massive dividends” in the future.
Combined with a separate $45 million increase proposed in Whitmer’s 2021-22 budget in May, the governor’s efforts, if approved, represent a stunning financial shot in the arm for a program that has been proven to improve academic skills of participants.
The additional funds would guarantee enough classroom seats for every eligible 4-year old whose family chooses to participate. Eligibility guidelines would remain the same, with children from families earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty line ($66,250 for a family of four, for example) attending GSRP for free.
Currently, about 43,000 4-year-olds are enrolled in GSRP or the federally funded Head Start program. That’s about two out of three children who are eligible according to their family’s income. State officials hope 90 percent of eligible children will enroll by the time the expansion is fully ramped up, in three years.