Parents in West Michigan are rapidly signing their kids up for free preschool as the deadline is approaches.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s “Free Pre-K for All” initiative that kicked off in 2023 aims at providing every four-year-old in Michigan with free education.
“The phone calls and the communication has been a lot with our families, so we know a lot of our families are doing it,” Lindsay French, director of early childhood with Portage Public Schools, said. “So, operating five days a week full-day preschool is going to be helping kiddos have that full amount of time so that they have that kindergarten readiness to transition for full-day kindergarten, but also for our working families as well.”
The program could save families up to $10,000 a year in early child care costs, according to state leaders.
“That’s gonna be, obviously, advantageous to our families,” French said. “Also just knowing that they’re gonna be receiving high-quality education, here, with high-quality early childhood standards through that program as well.”
Free Pre-K for All, as a part of Great Start Readiness Programming, is made possible by the State of Michigan Budget.
More children are eligible now as the governor is working toward her goal of pre-k for all by 2027.
Requirements include, but are not limited to:
- Children must be four years old by Dec. 1
- Eligibility has been expanded to children from families with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level
“I think the state’s goal is to eventually, your economic level won’t matter,” Scott Kemple, head of Kalamazoo Country Day, a private school, said.
While Kemple sees how much free pre-k is helping families, he’s worried it will take business away from private preschools, like his.
“We’re gonna have to meet the qualifications that the state sets out for us to continue to have a preschool here,” Kemple said.
The deadline to enroll for free preschool for the upcoming school year is Sept. 1, 2025.
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