WALSH

at’s an important distinction between what the program can and cannot do. Especially given that Michigan ranks seventh-worst in the nation for fourth grade reading scores, according to the 2023 State of Michigan Education report, released by the Education Trust-Midwest earlier this month.

But it’s the long-term outcomes that are important here. And a universal pre-K program would serve the state’s goal in boosting college graduation. Michigan ranked 37th in 2021 in degree attainment — Whitmer set forth a lofty, if not impossible, goal of the state reaching 60 percent of Michigan residents with a postsecondary degree or certi cate by 2030.

“If we’re going to move the needle on job participation, then universal

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pre-K is absolutely necessary,” said Tyler eile, vice president, COO and director of public policy for Lansing-based economic research consultancy Anderson Economic Group.

“We must think about our state’s demographics. We’re coming into decades with signi cantly fewer workers due to an aging population. We have to encourage a higher participation rate any way we can if we want to achieve sustainable economic growth.”

Michigan has one of the oldest populations with nearly 18 percent of the population 65 and older. And that population is projected to rise by 82 percent between 2010 and 2040. ere’s also another bene t to universal pre-K — freeing up parents to work. Michigan’s labor force participation rate is dismal at best with only 59.9 percent of the working-age population actually working or looking for work. at gure has continued to plummet since the modern peak of 68.8 percent in May 2000. e advent of kindergarten, which wasn’t publicly subsidized in all 50 states until the 1980s, shows a stunning example of how subsidized child care and education can have an immediate impact on the workforce.

Between 1950 and 1990, 40 percent of single mothers joined the workforce when their child entered