Michigan Early Childhood Education and Care Amendment

Michigan is facing well‑documented and widely acknowledged crises in K-12 education, childcare, and persistent poverty. Too many children enter kindergarten already behind. Too many families cannot find or afford childcare. Too many early educators earn wages that make it impossible to stay in the profession. And too many communities continue

Michigan ranks 44th in K–12 education, with 75% of 3rd and 8th graders not proficient in reading or math. Seventy percent of ZIP codes are childcare deserts. Early educators earn just $13–14 an hour—30% less than K–2 teachers—fueling severe shortages and turnover. Women’s workforce participation is among the nation’s lowest,

Universal Early Childhood Education and Care (UECEC) directly addresses each of Michigan’s interconnected crises. It ensures every child enters kindergarten prepared, closing achievement gaps before they widen and strengthening literacy and math outcomes. It transforms childcare deserts into reliable options in every ZIP code, raises early educator wages to align

MIKidsReady proposes a balanced, three-pillar funding formula to build a quality, education-focused early childhood system for Michigan. Pillar one: a modest $15 per day parent contribution, far lower than today’s childcare costs, generating $1.6 to $1.8 billion annually based on 80 percent participation of children ages 0 to 4, with

Michigan now has a detailed, evidence-based picture of what universal early childhood education and care truly costs. The Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis commissioned by Hope Starts Here and Think Babies Michigan finds that the state needs approximately $3.5 billion annually to fund a high-quality, mixed-delivery system serving children from birth to

The $3.5 billion gross cost of universal early childhood education and care is not the net cost to Michigan. Program consolidation alone—reducing fragmented childcare subsidies, emergency assistance tied to unstable care, and extensive K–12 tutoring for unprepared kindergartners—yields hundreds of millions in annual savings. Universal ECEC creates thousands of living-wage

Michigan has two paths to place a universal early childhood education and care constitutional amendment on the ballot. Option one: a legislature-referred amendment requiring two-thirds supermajority approval in both chambers. The House has 110 members, so 74 votes are needed. The Senate has 38 members, so 26 votes are needed.

Michigan can no longer afford another study, pilot program, or cautious conversation about “considering” universal early childhood education and care. The system is failing children, families, and communities—and the consequences of inaction grow more severe each year. Early childhood organizations hold the credibility, expertise, and moral authority to lead. They

What makes MIKidsReady’s plan unique is that it tackles three of Michigan’s most urgent challenges at the same time: the childcare crisis keeping parents out of the workforce, the K-12 readiness crisis that begins long before kindergarten, and the deep urban poverty that persists across generations. No other comprehensive statewide