In the Center for Michigan’s ongoing statewide Community Conversations, participants have routinely recognzied pre-Kindergarten learning as one of their top education strategies for Michigan’s future. Brand-new polling says the same thing.
So, it is sad to report that ongoing budget negotiations in Lansing are way out of step with the pre-K priorities so many citizens have expressed.
Judy Samuelson, CEO of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, reported in a widely distributed email this week that a Senate proposal would result in “wiping out pre-K in Michigan for 30,471 4-year-olds.”
“We understand that the state must have priorities and we understand that budget cuts are inescapable, but to balance the budget on the backs of children when most programs are taking 10 percent reductions, is just unacceptable,” Samuelson wrote.
“Unacceptable” is a word rolling of the tongues of many individual interest group advocates in Lansing this spring as every budget ox gets gored.
The unrest is only going to intensify on all sides unless and until Michigan has a Governor, House Speaker, and Senate Majority Leader who can negotiate cooperatively and clearly outline not just the budget numbers, but the underlying strategy to the state budget. Right now, there is no clear strategy — no clear priorities, other than to distribute cuts across all budget areas with the least possible pain to all interest groups.
2 Comments
It is too bad that children have to wait for the legislature to invest in a quality early childhood system because their early childhood will be over so quickly. Research has shown time and again that public investments in early childhood give taxpayers some of the best outcomes and return on investment of any government funded programs. Reductions in early childhood programs including child care, parent education, and health care, will mean more families will struggle to make ends meet, and more kids will come to kindergarten unprepared to learn. We will spend $7 more trying to fix the problems in future years instead of finding the revenue to invest $1 now!
If we want Michigan to have a future, we need to invest in the people who will give it one (the children).