Matthew Hutchison / news@whmi.com

Livingston County superintendents are ready to meet the state’s ambitious goal of providing free preschool to all 4-year-olds by 2027, and say their recent investments in early childhood education are paying dividends for students and their families.

The superintendents of Brighton, Fowlerville, Hartland, Howell and Pinckney and the countywide Livingston Educational Service Agency said they’re moving aggressively to expand access, build capacity and staff accordingly as part of their districts’ commitments to help strengthen student readiness for kindergarten. Their remarks came during a taping of WHMI’s “Meet the People” podcast, which is available on WHMI.com and will air in its entirety at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Beginning this school year, all 4-year-old students in Michigan have access to free preschool through the state’s Great Start Readiness Program, with priority given to children from low-income families. By 2027, the program will expand to provide universal access for all 4-year-olds, a move that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has called a “game changer” for Michigan families.

Area district leaders agree.

Fowlerville Community Schools Superintendent Matthew Stuard said the district is serving nearly 40 additional preschool students this year.

To accommodate the growth, Fowlerville is in the process of transforming its former Smith Elementary School into a “Little Glads (Gladiators) Early Childhood Center” to house GSRP, Head Start, tuition-based programs for 3-year-olds and before- and after-school programs. Stuard said the building should be complete in late December and ready for occupancy in late January or early February.

Space is also a concern for Hartland Consolidated Schools, where Superintendent Chuck Hughes said the district’s elementary classrooms are full. Hughes said Hartland has invested roughly $2.5 million in upgrades to its 51 Building in the Village to create expanded capacity for GSRP and other day-care programs.

“We want to prepare our young ones to handle the rigor of a more rigorous kindergarten curriculum than we’ve ever seen before,” Hughes said, noting that the district’s expanded preschool programming is producing results. “We’re seeing a major difference in our kids walking through the door” for kindergarten.

Pinckney Community Schools Superintendent Rick Todd said his district has taken a multi-year strategic approach to accommodate growing preschool enrollment. “We moved our sixth-graders to our middle school. We moved our 3rd-grade from our lower elementary to our upper elementary schools to then make room so we can house our preschool in our existing elementary schools.”

“We looked at any challenge as an opportunity,” Todd said. “We’re building a family of communities and learners that will stay with us through their educational career.”

Brighton Area Schools Superintendent Matt Outlaw said demand for preschool and child care is exceeding capacity, with wait lists ranging from 20 to 70 families for some services.
Outlaw stressed that the district is addressing workforce constraints to meet growing demand. “We wish we could offer more to our families,” he said. “Our biggest barrier is staffing — trying to get enough people for before and after care. Families really need those programs.”

BAS currently offers universal pre-K through its Tot Spot center.

Howell Public Schools Superintendent Erin MacGregor said the district has tripled the size of its preschool programming, growing from four classrooms to 12 this year.

“When you have eight more classrooms, getting those students ready for kindergarten is phenomenal and we’re fortunate enough to have the space to do that,” MacGregor said. “What you see in a preschool classroom today is a lot more rigorous. The expectations to get students ready for kindergarten to prepare them to read, write, and (build) numeracy skills – all those things are heads and tails above where we were 20 to 30 years ago.”

Livingston Educational Service Agency Superintendent Michael Hubert underscored the work his agency does with school districts across the county, and specifically highlighted LESA’s preschool programs for students with disabilities.
“In Michigan, we educate students with disabilities from birth through the age of 26 so that early childhood education is a really important component of developmental time,” he said.

“We also sometimes integrate students with disabilities in the programs with their typically-developing peers and that’s so important from a community standpoint because it helps not just that individual with a disability but it (also) helps their peers without that disability interact with them, and that’s a really important part of developing good space in our community.”

Click the links below to the listen to the "Meet the People" podcast.