Whitmer's universal preschool plan could do more than level the educational playing field

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a plan this week to pay for more children in Michigan to attend preschool.Experts say it could do more than level the educational playing field. Many preschool programs, especially ones designed for lower income families, include health screenings, connection to social services and even parent or family programs designed to support things like housing stability or financial security. And that's not to mention have having children in preschool gives their parents more flexibility in their working lives. Whitmer's plan would channel an additional $405 million from the federal and state governments into Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program over the next three years.Only about 66 percent of eligible children are served by state or federally funded preschool programs, according to Whitmer. Head Start, a federal preschool program serves low-income children and families living below the poverty line.Michigan’s own public preschool program called Great Start Readiness Program reaches children slightly above the poverty level but it leaves out children in the middle-income brackets.Private preschool programs are often expensive so even families with greater means can struggle to afford the cost.“There’s a big swath of families right in the middle there who don’t qualify for Headstart but still would not be able to afford a high-quality preschool opportunity for their children,” said Matt Gillard who serves as the president and CEO of Michigan’s Children, a Lansing advocacy group. “We do a pretty good job in comparison to other states with our state investment in our program but there is still room to go before we could call it universal.”The plan is welcome news to Lauren Zessin and her family of six. Zessin’s two eldest children have attended private pre-schools in the Jackson area.“We enrolled our kids with the hope that they would be ready for kindergarten but really most important to set the stage for them to become lifelong learners,” she said.Zessin who runs a Mothers of Preschoolers group on Facebook for the Jackson area wants to see early education prioritized.“I think it’s important to focus on our kids, put our kids first and not lose sight of what really matters-- to use that funding for things that are truly important in our society,” she said. “I’d love to hear less about the roads and more about our kids.”Access to high-quality preschool programs “would break down barriers and create a more equal playing field for kids entering kindergarten,” she said.Research shows that children who enter kindergarten after preschool or pre-kindergarten programs perform better despite other disadvantages."Three and four year old pre-K has proven, there's been longitudinal studies some of them done right here in Michigan over 40 years, that show the positive impacts that a high quality learning environment three and four-year-olds can have throughout their lifetime and earning potential and educational attainment and educational success," Gillard said.Whitmer’s plan to reach the goal of universal preschool for all Michigan children isn’t set in stone yet. The plan still needs approval from the GOP-led Senate.Senator Rosemary Bayer says she and her colleagues have actually found common ground on the issue.“I think there’s strong support for education overall and in particular early childhood childcare as well as anything that has to do with early childhood education,” she said. “I think we have pretty broad support for it.”The barrier to serving all eligible four-year-olds is past funding that didn’t keep up with costs.“We didn’t tie the funding [for preschool education programs] to cost of living changes and so we’ve just been going backwards since 2000,” Bayer said. “We’re going to try to do a catch-up.”If approved, Whitmer’s plan would use federal funding for the first three years of the preschool expansion and gradually replace those dollars with state funds. According to Bayer, the state expects to have the money needed to support the expanded program.

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Whitmer's universal preschool plan could do more than level the educational playing field

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