Questions and Answers
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 plan is attempting to address all three together. MIKidsReady follows an evidence-based path by treating early childhood education and care as the foundation for workforce stability, school success, and long-term economic mobility. By identifying new, sustainable revenue sources, the plan strengthens families without placing additional burdens on them. A dedicated early childhood fund, similar to the model used in New Mexico, would ensure Michigan builds a high-quality, stable, and permanent system rather than another temporary patchwork. This is not a pilot program or another task force. It is a constitutional solution designed to break the cycle of poverty, support working families, and transform Michigan’s future from birth.
A Call for Leadership: The Role of Michigan’s Early Childhood Education and Care Organizations
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 are the essential bridge between rising public energy and the policymakers who must respond. By speaking clearly about the crisis, mobilizing their networks, and presenting a unified, statewide vision, ECEC organizations can build the momentum needed to secure a legislature-referred constitutional amendment and voter approval in November 2026. The moment demands decisive, coordinated action—and visible, courageous leadership from those who know this system best.
Amending the Constitution
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. Voter approval would make the amendment effective as early as 45 days after passage. Option two: a citizen-initiated amendment requiring 446,198 valid signatures, equal to 10 percent of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. Supporters must draft the amendment text, obtain petition approval from the Board of State Canvassers, collect signatures within a 180-day window, and submit them for verification. Once certified, the amendment appears on a statewide ballot for voters to approve or reject. Both paths lead to the same destination: Michigan voters deciding whether to guarantee early childhood education and care as a constitutional right.
The Net Cost and Benefits
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 jobs, moving underemployed workers and public assistance recipients into stable employment where they pay income, sales, and property taxes. Mothers—who face one of the lowest workforce participation rates in the nation—enter or re-enter the workforce, becoming taxpayers rather than sidelined economic assets. Long-term returns include higher lifetime earnings, reduced crime and incarceration costs, lower special education spending, and increased business investment. When you combine program savings, new tax revenue, labor force gains, and economic growth, the net cost to Michigan is dramatically lower than $3.5 billion—and the return on investment is substantial.
The True Cost of a Universal Early Childhood Education & Care System in Michigan
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 kindergarten entry. Today’s system is underfunded and fragmented—held together by disconnected funding streams that reimburse providers far below the true cost of care. Early educators average just $13 per hour, driving turnover, program closures, and staffing shortages. One third of eligible four-year-olds lack access to public preschool, and tens of thousands of subsidy-eligible children cannot find care. The path to a universal system is fully within reach, but it requires dedicated, stable, annual public funding that reflects the real cost of quality—including professional wages, support for home-based providers, and affordable access for every family.
Funding Michigan’s Early Childhood System
MIKidsReady proposes a balanced, three-pillar funding formula to build a quality, education-focused early childhood system for Michigan. Pillar one: a 3% investment contribution on taxable income above
500,000 for single filers and 1 million for joint filers, generating approximately 1–1.1 billion annually from only the highest-income households. Pillar two: a 0.5% payroll surcharge on businesses with more than 50 employees—small businesses fully exempt—generating
740–810 million per year from employers who benefit directly from reliable childcare.
How Universal Early Childhood Education and Care (UECEC) Addresses Each Set of Struggles
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 with K–2 teachers, and increases women’s workforce participation by reducing caregiving barriers. UECEC recovers Michigan’s estimated $3 billion annual loss from inadequate childcare, attracts and retains young families, and encourages college graduates to stay. Most critically, it breaks intergenerational poverty—as New Mexico proved, lifting 120,000 families above poverty in its first year. For Michigan, that means half a million families lifted. This is not a program. It is a structural solution.
Michigan’s Current Education, Childcare, Economic and Poverty Struggles
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, and Michigan loses $3 billion annually to inadequate childcare. Flint and Detroit rank among the ten poorest large U.S. cities, with intergenerational poverty driving high public costs without creating pathways out. This is not a collection of isolated problems. It is a single, urgent crisis.
Our Purpose and Mission
Our purpose is to bring Michigan together around a bold, evidence-based plan: Universal Early Childhood Education and Care (UECEC, pronounced yoo-sek for short) as a guaranteed right for every child and family in the state. Michigan faces well-documented crises in K-12 education, childcare, and persistent poverty. The state ranks 44th in K-12 education. Too many children enter kindergarten already behind. Too many families cannot find or afford childcare. Too many early educators earn poverty wages. And too many communities experience generational poverty without a pathway out. The evidence from other states is clear. Mississippi expanded early learning collaboratives and saw gains in 4th-grade reading and math. Louisiana’s pre-K program produced higher kindergarten readiness, higher graduation rates at 88 percent, and 45 percent fewer special education placements. New Mexico lifted 120,000 families out of poverty in its first year of early childhood investment. Michigan can fix K-8 education, high school curriculum, literacy, and chronic absenteeism by fixing early childhood education first. That is MIKidsReady’s mission.