- Great Start Great readiness program is is a state-funded preschool Program through Eaton RESA for four-year-old children who's families meet certain financial requirements to have free pre school
- In her State of the State address, Governor Whitmer mentions free preschool for kids by 2026 and programs like Great Start are looking to further their involvement in sending more kids to preschool
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Governor Gretchen Whitmer is focusing on education in 2024...Including helping to get Pre-k all four-year-olds in Michigan
In her state of the state address, Whitmer said that she is looking to make Pre-k free for all by the year of 2026.
Something that Pre-k programs like Great Start Readiness through Eaton RESA are in support of... They have been working toward this goal for the past 10 years.
"It can be up to 10,000 dollars a year for a family to pay for that service and that's affordable for some families but for others that's not easily done"
Which is why Great Start Readiness offers free preschool to families who have a 4 year old and are at 300% of the federal poverty level or lower
They understand the importance of both social and educational skills at that age
"Teaching them those early literacy and math skills if they have those prior to going to kindergarten they're going to be much more successful so its just a really good year for them to learn these things"
And they say the other benefit is a financial one for families....
"Moving forward if they're going to remove some of those income requirements that would be really nice for families because we know everything costs more now a days... Grocery.. Gas everything is higher so if families could save some money and use a free preschool opportunity we'd like to help them do that"
Administrators say they look forward to working alongside the state if Whitmer's proposals move forward this year.
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