Early education officials say new numbers show the increasing popularity of state-funded free pre-K with families across Michigan.
Nearly 53,000 applications for 4-year-olds are on file for the upcoming 2026-27 school year as of July 2026, an almost 16% increase from the same time last year, officials announced at a press conference Wed. Aug. 19. Officials also said that there are 69,500 slots open across the state for the school year.
The program known as the Great Start for Readiness Program became available to all regardless of income in 2024.
"Families are embracing it," said Emily Laidlaw, a deputy director at MiLEAP, the state's early education agency.
But how many applicants will end up actually enrolled for the upcoming school year and how that
enrollment compares to the previous is not yet clear. Officials didn't provide enrollment totals so far for 2026-27.
In the 2025-26 school year, they enrolled a total of 55,000 4-year-old's, around 7,000 more than the previous year but, according to state data reviewed by the Free Press, was short of the state's target by roughly 3,000 kids.
According to MiLEAP spokesperson Aundreana Jones-Poole, the most recent data available shows that 62.5% of Michigan's 4-year-old's are enrolled in the state's broader Pre-K for All initiative. GSRP enrollment only makes up a portion of this goal since it also includes 4-year-old's enrolled in other publicly funded pre-K programs, such as Head Start.
Laidlaw said the state is on track to meet Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's goal to enroll 75% of 4-year-old's in public pre-K by 2027.
Enrollment in the program is important to MiLEAP, which is keen to get kids enrolled in its nationally lauded, well-funded and rated high-quality program. But it also show off the program's popularity with families to lawmakers, who will decide the future of the program's continued funding. While Whitmer found bipartisan support for expanding the program which became one of her marquee policies, that momentum is not guaranteed to hold under a newly elected governor with new priorities in 2027.
Interested parents can find out more and apply at miprekforall.org.
All school districts are now required to have a public online dashboard, where parents can go to see where free pre-K open slots are open throughout their county, like the one in Oakland Intermediate School District.
Parents who spoke about their experience with GSRP on the press conference praised the program for allowing them to be less stressed, financially and otherwise.
"It allows me to focus on paying back student loans," said Jordan Ewert who is enrolling his 4-year-old Nico in free pre-K this fall in Wayne County.
Though state officials say continuing to get enrollment up depends mainly on making parents aware of the program, ISD leaders and others working on free pre-K expansion say enrollment increases depend also on other issues that come after a parent looks into enrolling, like classrooms matching where kids are located and parents can get to, and scheduling issues since GSRP typically runs until 4pm at the latest, cutting into the workday for some.
Laidlaw said the agency had been working to increase local capacity to open up new GSRP classrooms, in schools and childcare sites, through additional startup funds and will continue working on outreach to parents.
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 was founded with support from the Bainum Family Foundation. The Free Press retains editorial control of this work.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Applications show popularity of Michigan free pre-K, state says
