Chalkboard Detroit: A shift toward free preschool for all 4-year-olds — which the Legislature will debate this session — could increase access and improve teacher pay at the same time. Indeed, that’s what happened in other states with universal preschool programs, said Christina Weiland, a professor at the University of Michigan who studies early childhood education.
With enough funding, Michigan could pump more money into each classroom, supporting higher wages, while also paying to open new classrooms.
“It’s a problem that’s highly solvable if you put the resources to it,” she said. “It would really be a shame, especially before we have the details from the administration, to get to this point of false tradeoffs … about what could be possible.”
