Whitmer wants free preschool statewide. Lansing's existing program could be a model

LANSING ― Amanda Limon is currently searching for a preschool for her 4-year-old son.

She was surprised at how expensive some of the preschools she looked at were. Although there are options for free pre-kindergarten programs in the Lansing area, she makes more money that allowed for free preschool from the Great Start Readiness Program.

Limon attended the Lansing School District's open enrollment event for universal preschool earlier this month. She said as she weighed several options for her son, she liked that she could send her son to Lansing schools for free even though she made more than the state guidelines for free preschool.

"I think (the free preschool) is great," Limon said. "I think it's really great. There's so many incentives in the Lansing schools as far as like (connections to MSU)."

Lansing school officials say they are the only school district in Michigan to offer a completely free preschool program for families, regardless of what their income is.

It costs at least $11,000 yearly for "high quality early childhood care and education" in Michigan, according to a report by the state's Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential Department, or MiLEAP. Even for those parents who make more than Michigan's cutoff for free preschool ‒ $90,000 a year for a family of four ‒ the high costs might make some hesitant to enroll their child.

In February, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced her plans to make Michigan's free preschool universal. According to her proposed budget, it would cost $650 million to remove all income eligibility for families of 4-year-olds.

Lansing is in a unique position to offer universal preschool programs, and the district's efforts offer a glance at what similar programs could look like in other districts.

The median household income in Lansing is $50,747, according to the U.S. Census, well below the $90,000 cutoff for free preschool. This means that more of Lansing's kids are already covered by the state program, and the district only has to cover the few students who wouldn't qualify.

Compare this to a school district like Okemos, where the median household income is $88,298. More families wouldn't qualify, and the school district would have to cover more students.

508 students with plans to expand

The universal pre-K program puts everyone on equal ground, Lansing Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said. And because everyone qualifies, the program has been popular during the few years it's existed.

"We have been filling our slots," said Angela Barry, executive director of the universal preschool program at the Lansing School District. "Right now, we have 508 students and that's how many we can hold. But next year, we'll be opening two new classrooms and then we will have capacity for 538 students."

The Great Start Readiness Program has a curriculum which the classrooms in Lansing follow. For children who are too young for kindergarten, a lot of their time is spent learning how to interact with other children while gaining a sense what future school will be like.

Earlier this month, kids poked at worms in Zondra Sickles Blake's preschool class at Cumberland Elementary in north Lansing, just south of the Capital Region International Airport.

"The kids guide us in what we teach here," Sickles Blake said. "It was raining a lot, and we noticed the kids were interested in the worms on the sidewalk, so we thought we'd make a lesson around them."

Some of the children didn't want to participate, and Sickles Blake and her co-teacher let them play with other items in the classroom instead.

"We want to let them participate on their own time," she said. "Some of them might not be ready, and that's OK."

The individualized approach goes for students who are extra curious about that day's activity, too. Sickles Blake brought out magnifying glasses for the children who wanted to keep looking at the worms.

"We let them lead, there's no set time for how long an activity lasts," she said. "Some of these kids might not be exposed to stuff we do or talk about in the class, so we want to give them enough time to explore it at the level they want."

Each preschool classroom in the Lansing district has 16 students and two teachers, according to Great Start Readiness Program requirements. Lead teachers must have a valid Michigan's teaching certificate and a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or child development with a specialization in preschool teaching. Associate teachers must have an associate's degree in early childhood education or child development or the equivalent and a valid center-based preschool child development associate credential.

Preschool teachers at Lansing get paid the same amount that a K-3 teacher would be paid, because of these qualifications, Shuldiner said.

Barry said that she's had conversations with other early childhood centers about expanding after Whitmer's announcement.

Regardless of whether Whitmer's proposal passes the legislature, Shuldiner said he's fully committed to continuing universal preschool for everyone living within the Lansing district, and those outside who meet income eligibility.

Classes are currently offered Monday through Thursday, at 13 school buildings across the district. The district also offers Chinese and Spanish language immersion classrooms and a Montessori classroom.

Rising state costs

For the 2023-24 school year, the state allocated a base amount of $9,608 per student for children in a full-day Great Start Readiness Program. Whitmer's proposed budget raises the amount to $10,342, which would cost $42.8 million out of the $159 million she's asking for to bring universal pre-K to every 4-year-old in Michigan.

The increase would make the base amount per pupil for Great Start programs higher than what she's proposing K-12 schools get per student. But K-12 schools would still see a $241 increase in per pupil allocation, raising the total to $9,849 per pupil.

But pre-K programs cost more than a typical K-12 classroom, Shuldiner said. Because each classroom can only have 16 students and requires two teachers, costs of paying the teachers are higher than a K-12 classroom, which have one teacher for about 25 students.

Whitmer's proposed budget is likely to meet pushback from conservatives and negotiations throughout this summer. Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, said the budget continues a "reckless spending spree," noting that officials said it would leave less than $20 million on the state's balance sheet if adopted in full. However, Democrats maintain a majority in both the House and Senate.

The final budget must be approved by Oct. 1, when the next fiscal year begins.

Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com. Follow her on X, @sarahmatwood.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Why the Lansing School District might be a model for free preschool