In response to pressure from advocates across the state, Michigan lawmakers worked under moonlight on October 3 to pass two long-awaited budget bills for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26), which were signed into law by the Governor on October 7. October 1, 2025 marked the first time in 16 years that Michigan entered a new fiscal year without a full state budget enacted, resulting in undue strain on our state’s early childhood system, and most importantly, our youngest kids and families.
So, what was included (and importantly, not included) for young children in this year’s state budget?
Michigan continues to make meaningful investments towards PreK for All by further expanding the state’s Great Start Readiness Program and eliminating the income eligibility cap for families.
Rx Kids, Michigan’s innovative cash prescription program aimed at cutting child poverty in specifically funded communities, will continue to receive $20 million, plus an additional $250 million by supplementing funding from FY2025. Rx Kids has demonstrated impact – it improves family economic stability, families’ mental health and well-being, and the health of moms and babies.
Despite these specific progressions, Michigan’s other priorities fell short overall for young children and families.
Of great concern is the infrastructure loss communities across the state will feel due to the elimination of funding for the Great Start Collaboratives and Family Coalitions. This loss will thwart twenty years of progress in advancing local early childhood systems and ensuring families aren’t just served by the system but are engaged in leading and shaping it.
The FY26 budget includes no rate increase for the Child Care Scholarship program, which offsets the cost of child care for lower income working families. Progress also remains stagnant with no funding to implement new child care contracts that would support and expand access to early care and learning for our most vulnerable children. While the inclusion of $3.5 million to initiate a transition to prospective payments to child care professionals participating in the Child Care Scholarship program is a start, it falls short of the overall investments needed to strengthen Michigan’s fragile child care infrastructure.
And despite a significantly growing need since the pandemic, Early On, Michigan’s early intervention system for infants and toddlers, will receive no additional state dollars as we move into FY26. Likewise, maternal and child health programs including the perinatal quality collaboratives, CenteringPregnancy, and rural home visiting will all operate at the previous years’ funding levels. While continued support is appreciated during fiscally challenging times; with inflation and rising costs, the real impact programs and families face will ultimately feel more like a cut.
Find out how all our early childhood priorities fared and learn more about these important early childhood programs in Michigan’s Investments in Early Childhood: A Summary of Fiscal Year 2026.
Your advocacy is still needed!
Reach out to your state lawmakers: Call or email Governor Whitmer, your state representative, and your state senator to thank them for the investments you’re glad to see in the FY26 budget and where you’d like more prioritization in the future. And, let them know about the importance of future timely budgets.
While the threat of a state shutdown has passed, our federal government remains shut down with no serious negotiation towards a legitimate budget compromise in sight for FY26. Absent a funded and functioning federal government, impacts will continue becoming deeper and wider for children and families – particularly those who count on programs like Head Start, WIC, SNAP and Medicaid. Michigan’s Child Care Scholarship program is also federally funded. A continuing federal shutdown puts further strain on child care businesses and Head Start programs and threatens their closure due to delayed reimbursements for children in their programs if the shutdown extends from days into weeks.
Please take a moment to contact your federal lawmakers using ECIC’s Action Center and urge them to pass a federal budget TODAY that both protects and prioritizes young children and families.