COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The elimination of $19.4 million in state funding for a program that coordinates early childhood services in each county across the state, including Branch County, means the end of the Great Start Collaborative.
The organization has worked to coordinate access for families to child care and preschool, early childhood literacy programming, developmental screenings, home visits for new parents, family playgroups, and parent educational events.
According to Branch County Great Start Collaborative Director Amy Galliers, Governor Whitmer and the state Senate had proposed funding the program at its previous level, while the House had wanted to the roll the money into the pre-pupil allocation for local school districts.
The final 2025-2026 state budget that came out of the conference committee earlier this month, was passed by both chambers, and was signed by the Governor had neither one of those options.
Galliers says there are several statewide organizations fighting to get the money restored, but it would take a supplemental funding bill to get it back before the next budget cycle.
Already about 30% of the Great Start Collaborative organizations around the state have already closed up shop, while the Branch County group has enough carryover money and support from the Branch Intermediate School District to operate until December 31, 2025.
The program has existed in Michigan for nearly 20 years, with the goal of making sure families and their children between birth and five years old have access to the services they need to be healthy and developmentally ready to succeed in school.
The new state budget does contain line item funding for some of the programs that the local Great Start Collaborative program supervised, so Galliers is unsure the fate of those programs.
Funding for a similarly named program, Great Start Readiness, which locally is coordinated by the Branch Intermediate School District, did receive a $28 million boost in funding statewide under the Governor’s “PreK For All” initiative.
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