In her 2023 State of the State address, Governor Whitmer announced a bold goal—by 2027, all 110,000 Michigan four-year-olds can attend a free, high-quality PreK program—regardless of where they live, their race/ethnicity, or how much their family earns. We call this goal “PreK for All.”

Today, families that qualify can enroll their preschoolers in Head Start and the Great Start Readiness Program. Both preschool programs are available for free to families that qualify. See if these programs are a fit for you by visiting GreatStarttoQuality.org or your local intermediate school district website.

With the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Kresge Foundation, the Governor’s office has assembled a PreK for All Action Team to inform how the state will achieve this goal. The Action Team includes leaders from the state, regional, and local levels. It includes individuals from child care, public schools, philanthropy, the Legislature, and more. The Action Team is supported by the University of Michigan Education Policy Initiative and Policy Equity Group (an early childhood consultancy based out of Washington D.C.) to bring best practices from other states and help engage important voices like yours in the planning effort. The Action Team will guide the development of an implementation plan that is due to the Governor by December 1, 2023.

The WK Kellogg Foundation and The Kresge Foundation are supporting the work of the implementation team.

Your feedback will help inform what’s most important for the local, regional, and state leaders to consider when implementing PreK for All.

Right now, the Action Team is focused on:

• Providing high-quality programming that is built from the research about how young kids learn best.
• Serving kids from less advantaged families first
• Serving families in the setting they prefer—including licensed child care and schools
• Achieving pay parity between public preschool and kindergarten teachers
• Supporting and strengthening child care services and three-year-old preschool programs to ensure high-quality early learning for all kids

We’re using several tools to create an effective, efficient, equitable implementation plan:

• Data and Evidence – Working to ensure Michigan’s PreK for All implementation is rooted in quality and evidence are two leading experts in the field of PreK research and policy: Dr. Christina Weiland, Ph.D and Dr. Ajay Chaudry, Ph.D. Their findings from a comprehensive data analysis of Michigan’s existing preschool programming and a review of how other states have implemented PreK will be used to inform Michigan’s PreK expansion.
• PreK for All Action Team – The Action Team is charged with developing a roadmap to achieve universal access to high-quality PreK for all Michigan four-year-olds by 2027—in the context of a strong early learning and care system for kids from birth through kindergarten entry. The team will be supported by the University of Michigan and Policy Equity Group to:
  • Analyze current options for kids and project needs by analyzing data to understand where our four-year-olds are currently served, where gaps exist, and how best to serve kids quickly and effectively
  • Learn from other places and bring those lessons to Michigan’s implementation strategy 
  • Engage diverse voices from across Michigan and ask partners (like you!) to weigh in on the key parts of the plan to make sure the final recommendations work for kids, families, and providers 
  • Propose an action plan to achieve PreK for All
• Community Input Sessions – The Policy Equity Group is leading community input initiatives. While they are conducting statewide one-on-one interviews with key early childhood leaders in Michigan, they are also working with community partners from across the state to host in-person and virtual community input sessions.

Fill out the feedback form! Have thoughts and ideas about Pre-K for all – you can provide us with all of them through the form offered. It takes less than 10 minutes.

Join a Community Input Session! We are hosting 9 in-person and 3 virtual community input sessions.