Questions, kinks and complications are bound to come up when policy gets applied in real life, as has been the case in the state’s roll out of its free pre-K program.
Many of the school district leaders who have been tasked with the job of implementing the program statewide feel optimistic about the impact the program is having on kids and families, but acknowledge there are some points of confusion for families who see advertisements across the state for “Pre-K for All” and end up finding barriers like wait-lists and transportation, among other issues, when they actually try to enroll.
Here are the answers to questions district early education leaders say come up often for parents and guardians looking to enroll their 4-year-olds.
Is Michigan’s Great Start for Readiness Program free for all families regardless of income?
Though Michigan’s Great Start for Readiness Program has more recently been labeled Pre-K for All following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2024 expansion of the program (GSRP has been the program’s name throughout its 40-year existence), it is not yet actually technically open to all.
After the program’s 2024 expansion, the income eligibility portion of the program was not eliminated altogether, but rather designed as a step down. There’s no longer an income cap dictating which families can and cannot participate. But when there are more applications than seats in a given area, programs are still mandated to first enroll families below a certain income level and other priority groups (like kids with diagnosed disability), said Edward Manuszak, director of early childhood for Washtenaw Intermediate School District.
The upcoming 2026-2027 school year will be the first when income eligibility is eliminated all together, Manuszak said.
Why am I on a GSRP wait list? Can I do anything to move the process along or find open seats?
Frustratingly for some parents, even though the state says pre-K is for all, some school districts have wait lists. School districts have had to adapt quickly to the huge infusion of state cash for pre-K by opening more state-funded pre-K classrooms.
But for that to happen, they need to do a whole bunch of things including finding childcare sites already operating throughout the county that want to open state-funded classrooms at their sites and find qualified teachers to staff these classrooms, which is made harder by state requirements mandating certain education levels for GSRP lead and assistant teachers.
Many intermediate school districts (ISDs) and regional educational service agencies (RESAs) have centralized systems for state pre-K enrollment, meaning they have a birds-eye view of sites that are at capacity and those that have open space.
Parents can get in touch with their local ISD or RESA’s early education office, which can help direct families who can’t find a free pre-K spot at their preferred site to another nearby option. Staff can also try to troubleshoot options for difficulties that might come up for families as a result, like transportation.
“It doesn’t make sense if there are openings in places and kids in wait lists in other places, unless there are very particular needs,” said Dawn Koger, director of early childhood at Oakland County ISD. “If a family chooses to be on a wait list, that’s okay with us, but we’d much rather offer alternatives.”
All ISD’s and RESA’s are required to have an online dashboard set up by April 15, 2026, where parents can go to see where free pre-K open slots are throughout their county. For example, Oakland ISD recently got its dashboard up and running which is set up for next year’s enrollment as the current school year is nearly over.
Is GSRP only in public schools and is full-day the only option for my kid?
ISDs and RESAs receive state GSRP dollars they are then required to dole out to both local school districts and “community based organizations,” meaning basically any other kind of childcare or early education site that operates outside of the school district (tuition-based childcare providers, Montessori schools, etc.)
But regardless of whether a GSRP classroom is in a school district or other childcare site, the program requirements are the same.
Whitmer’s pre-K for all roadmap mandates that each ISD or RESA give at least 30% of GSRP slots to community-based organizations – this is so that parents can have accessible options beyond their school district, in terms of hours and distance from home, among other factors. This is particularly important for families who need before and after care and can’t have their 4-year-old in a school district’s GSRP program that ends before the workday.
State program requirements allow for a few GSRP program schedules, which vary site to site.
The more an ISD or RESA is able to partner with a variety of community-based childcare or early education sites to open GSRP classrooms, the more options a parent will have to choose from when finding a GSRP program for their 4-year-old that meets their family’s needs, said Koger. Oakland County, for example, has a wide range of programs to partner with to open GSRP classrooms from childcare sites to Montessori schools to preschool cooperatives.
“That has really diffused a lot of the pressures and tensions because families do have choice,” she said.
But not every county has a diverse stock of already-existing childcare sites able to open up GSRP classrooms, which can pose difficulty for families and slow down enrollment.
Koger said some parents also complain about the lack of GSRP program flexibility. Some are frustrated that GSRP enrollment doesn’t allow for dropping a kid off only on certain days of the week or during certain hours that suit their child’s needs and family schedule.
While Koger understands it’s difficult to send one’s 4-year-old to school, universal pre-K is “is intended to be an ongoing program with a dosage, not just a free for all drop-in environment,” she said.
Also, all GSRP classrooms are mandated to teach curriculum selected from a pre-approved list of options, including Connect4Learning, HighScope, Creative Curriculum, Reggio Emilia, Montessori and Project Approach, many of which focus on play-based learning and don’t look like kids sitting in seats all day memorizing colors, for example, education leaders say. Parents can research curriculum options and look for GSRP classrooms using the ones that best align with the environment they want their kid in.
Why doesn’t every childcare provider in my area offer free pre-K?
Even if a childcare provider has a pre-K classroom open, not every one of those classrooms will be state-funded and therefore, free to parents.
Why? Because traditional tuition-based childcare programs have to opt in to open GSRP classrooms. Historically, many have not wanted to because of all the additional requirements and costs that come along with running these programs.
It can be challenging for childcare sites, some that have operated in their communities for decades, to transition existing or create new 4-year-old classrooms that have all the equipment and supplies, along with the bachelor’s degree-certified lead teacher, needed to comply with rigorous program requirements.
But ISD leaders said more of these childcare providers – who often run on razor-thin margins – are choosing to open GSRP classrooms. This is in large part due to start-up grants the state has also funded – between $25,000 and $40,000 per classroom site – to offset the initial cost of buying program-required supplies like tables, chairs, water-tables, easels, carpets, or outdoor playground equipment, said Manuszak. More childcares are also opting in because these sites will lose business otherwise, from families who choose free pre-K over their tuition-based site.
Was this helpful? Have a question about enrolling your kid in GSRP that wasn’t answered here? Write into rsanmartin@freepress.com.
Beki San Martin is a fellow at the Detroit Free Press who covers childcare, early childhood education and other issues that affect the lives of children ages 5 and under and their families in metro Detroit and across Michigan. Contact her at rsanmartin@freepress.com.
This fellowship is supported by the Bainum Family Foundation. The Free Press retains editorial control of this work.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Parent questions about free Pre-K for All, GSRP answered
Reporting by Beki San Martin, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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