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Funding boon expands GSRP but free pre-K sees lack of applicants

The Record-Eagle - 11/6/2021

Nov. 6—TRAVERSE CITY — Traverse City Area Public Schools received funding to offer seven state-funded preschool locations, but has too few applicants to open to its full potential.

The Great Start Readiness Program is a free, state-funded preschool program for 4-year-old children with factors that may place them at risk of educational failure, such as developmental delays or economic insecurity. After struggling last year to run its GSRP with inadequate funding, TCAPS grew its GSRP from two to five locations, but is still looking for more people to apply.

In the past, state funding allocated to school districts to run their GSRPs did not account for inflation or per-pupil funding school districts receive for K-12 education, said Christine Thomas-Hill, TCAPS associate superintendent of finance and operations. These factors made it difficult for school districts like TCAPS to run the GSRP classrooms they were approved for, she said.

"A lot of programs were running in the red," Thomas-Hill said. "And we were having to subsidize it with K-12 general education money, which was proving to be difficult on years where we didn't have excess funds."

Funding for GSRPs comes from the Michigan Department of Education and is allocated to each intermediate school district to give to local school districts. Funding for TCAPS GSRP classrooms are run through Northwest Education Services.

North Ed and Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency take on most of the administrative work for the GSRPs while TCAPS provides the space and the staff for the classrooms.

This year, the state allocated more funds per student in a GSRP classroom — increasing from $7,250 per student in a full-day program to $8,700 this year.

Thomas-Hill said this change is "a huge difference," and it will allow TCAPS to open all its approved GSRP preschool classes, but the school district is only planning to run five of its seven approved programs because of a lack of applicants.

Thomas-Hill said she has a "hard time believing" so few parents are interested in the program. She said she would like to see "more of a push to educating parents," from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which has information on which parents have children who would be eligible for GSRP.

"I think it's more, they're either not aware of it or they don't have access to the resources to apply," Thomas-Hill said.

The income-based program requirement rises to 250 percent of the federal poverty level; for example, this meant below income below $66,250 a year, $5,521 a month or $1,275 a week for a family of four, according to the 2021-2022 income eligibility guidelines.

The five TCAPS GSRP classrooms are at Blair, Courtade, Silver Lake and Long Lake elementary schools. Blair has two GSRP classrooms. Each GSRP classroom operates Monday through Thursday during the length of the school day.

GSRP teacher Lindsey Ross said in an email that she would like to see all TCAPS elementary schools have a GSRP classroom.

"The more GSRP classrooms we have around the district, the more families and students we can support," Ross said. "There are families who qualify for our program who might not be able to afford a year of tuition-based preschool."

GSRP classrooms are given specific curricula designed to align with best practices and state standards by the Michigan Department of Education and local childcare education providers.

All TCAPS preschools use the GSRP curriculum in order to maintain continuity, Thomas-Hill said.

Ross said each GSRP classroom has an Early Childhood Specialist from North Ed who provides support and guidance for teachers.

The GSRP teachers also follow specific routines inside and outside the classroom and focus on supporting families and students

GSRP teachers visit students' homes twice a year, hold Family Participation Group meetings and connect families to resources in the community, Ross said.

"All of these help build trust between the teaching staff and the families, setting them up for success," Ross said in an email.

Thomas-Hill said she is not currently concerned about staffing shortages for TCAPS's GSRP classrooms, despite a statewide and nationwide shortage in teachers and substitutes.

However, she said she is concerned that stringent Licensing and Regulatory Affairs requirements will stagnate future hiring for GSRP classrooms.

K-12 education and programs such as GSRP are run through different state government entities, which means the qualifications for teachers in those programs often differ.

LARA is in charge of hiring teachers and staff for GSRP classrooms, and its requirements tend to be more substantial than MDE requirements, Thomas-Hill said.

"We're at a spot right now where you have to get a second set of fingerprints for anybody working in childcare that goes above and beyond the Michigan State Police fingerprint we do for all public school employees," Thomas-Hill said. "And right now, there's no place in Traverse City for our employees to get fingerprinted, so they have to travel to, like, Kalkaska. It's ridiculous."

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