LANSING, Mich. — Governor Gretchen Whitmer created a department this week aimed at accelerating the state’s early childhood and higher education programs.
The state hopes better student outcomes will improve Michigan’s economy and stagnant population growth.
READ MORE: Gov. Whitmer establishes new education department to improve MI student outcomes
In West Michigan, the demand for the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District’s Great Start Readiness Program exceeds the number of seats available.
“Last year, we had about 250 children still on a waiting list,” Stuart Jones, director of Early Childhood Services within the district, told FOX 17 Wednesday.
Jones explained that, despite recent expansions to include more students, spots quickly fill up, leaving those on standby at risk.
“Your brain actually develops much quicker in birth to five years than at any other point in life, so it’s really important that children are getting those type of educational activities and social activities in those early years,” Jones said.
He hopes the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential, or MiLEAP, fixes the issue.
Governor Whitmer signed the executive order to form MiLEAP on Tuesday.
According to a news release from the governor's office, MiLEAP wants to build an education system that supports an economy of the future and help anyone “Make it in Michigan.”
For example, the department would ensure student access to affordable and interest-driven before and after school activities.
“This information is rather new to us, so we will be watching,” President of the State Board of Education Dr. Pamela Pugh said.
She added that Michigan’s already-existing Department of Education does this type of work, but the department will support MiLEAP.
“This is a new opportunity that the governor sees for partnership and deepened partnership, and so we are willing to partner, like I said, we will make sure we’re watchful. Many are asking is this appeasement to the business community? Or is this about children? So, we will be very conscious, and we will be very watchful to make sure that this is a priority of children,” Dr. Pugh said.
State Senate Republican leader Aric Nesbitt released the following statement regarding MiLEAP:
“More government does not fix bad government. I believe the people of Michigan would prefer our governor focus more on ensuring children can read and less on scaling back education accountability standards and creating more government bureaucracy.”
"The only thing this creates more of is a wider path opportunity. And so, I'm looking forward to those legislators being willing to work with us and to celebrate the wins in their communities that come from the deeper investments in education that we've committed to on a bipartisan basis that the budget, that were going to be signed in the education budget, is bipartisan and it represents the largest investment in education that we've ever made in the history of the state of Michigan," Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist told FOX 17 during an interview Thursday.
Many educators, including Jones, hope leaders meet the needs of their students regardless.
“It’ll be interesting to see how they develop the concept. Why a special department? My guess is they really, really are focusing on the importance of the nontraditional early and later years of education and kind of taking that out of the K-12 responsibility that so focused on those K-12 years,” Jones said.
Click here for more information on the new MiLEAP department.
