The Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) and the Think Babies Michigan coalition are gathering information from candidates seeking public office in Michigan about their perspectives on early childhood policy. Our goal is education, not endorsement. ECIC does not endorse, oppose, or rate candidates for public office.
We are collecting responses so that families, early childhood service providers, and community members across Michigan can better understand how candidates think about the needs of children from birth through age five and the families and professionals who care for them. Responses from candidates are published as received, without editing or commentary. Candidates have agreed that their responses may be reproduced and attributed to them in ECIC and Think Babies Michigan communications, including newsletters, social media, websites, and materials shared with coalition partners.
The following responses are from Abbie Groff-Blaszak, Democratic candidate for Michigan Senate District 29.
What do you see as the most pressing early childhood challenge facing the district or communities you seek to represent?
The most pressing challenge is inequitable access to early childhood education and child care based on location, cost and availability. Wealthier individuals in wealthier communities within the district tend to have more options and the resources to take advantage of the option(s) of their choosing, while working families in lower-income communities tend to have fewer options and fewer resources that would allow them a preferred choice (or any meaningful choice) in setting and provider.
Michigan families in many parts of the state live in areas with far fewer licensed child care slots than there are children who need them, and the shortage is most severe for infants and toddlers. What is your view of this issue, and what approaches would you consider if elected?
We must focus resources on addressing this inequity in access, prioritizing increased funding for underserved areas of the state. We must also increase overall funding for child care and early childhood education statewide. All children deserve, and all families should have access to, quality care and education. The cost of these without public support is simply prohibitive to too many families, as appropriate staffing levels (which have lower ratios for infants and toddlers) and appropriate compensation for early child hood professionals are necessary (and expensive) in the provision of quality care and education.
What is your perspective on the cost of child care for Michigan families, and on the tools available to state or federal policymakers to address affordability?
The cost of child care is too high – and it has been for a long time. The ultimate goal is universal childcare and early education – a publicly-funded system in which every family has access to free, high-quality care. Interim policies that may help us work toward universal care and education may include expanded scholarships for families and support for providers as well as focusing specifically on improving pay and benefits for early childhood professionals in order to recruit and retain staffing to stabilize and expand availability.
Early childhood educators are among the lowest paid workers in Michigan, and turnover in the field is high. How do you think about compensation, benefits, and working conditions in this profession?
Compensation, including benefits, for early childhood professionals is unconscionably low and a root cause of instability in the early childhood care and education workforce. All workers should earn a thriving wage – enough to cover all of their basic needs and pursue personal interests, and licensed and certified staff should be paid commensurate to their training and expertise.
Michigan has dedicated funding for many critical services, but nothing specifically focused on the needs of families with young children. Advocates have proposed a dedicated, sustainable state revenue stream for early childhood, separate from the annual general fund appropriations process. What is your perspective on that idea?
I fully support dedicated funding to support early childhood education and care; it’s a necessity to working toward universal care. Rather than trying to generate this revenue from disconnected excise taxes or sales tax, I am committed to working to rebuild Michigan’s regressive tax system to a fair-share, progressive tax system (including a repeal of the prohibition on a graduated income tax and institution of a minimum corporate tax). We have more than enough resources in our state to fund the services that we want and need – including high-quality early childhood care and education – but we have to change the system in order to make use of them.
If you were setting priorities within a constrained early childhood budget, what would you prioritize first, and why?
I would prioritize increasing pay for early childhood professionals. Appropriate pay would significantly improve retention and stability across the system, which would in turn, stabilize and improve quality across the system.
Michigan has made significant strides to promote maternal and infant health, though federal policy changes put many of these programs at risk. How would you work to preserve and expand access to important programs that promote maternal and infant health including Medicaid?
Medicaid is essential to maternal and infant health in Michigan as part of our overall current healthcare system. With new requirements, including more frequent eligibility checks, taking effect in 2027, it is essential that we take proactive measures to inform and assist Medicaid recipients in anticipating and navigating the changes as well as simplifying the overall process to first ensure that mothers and babies remain insured. I will work to protect the expanded programs for pre- and post-natal care in Michigan, prioritizing state funding supplementation for existing modes of care.
Think Babies supports more funding for programs that support nurturing relationships and well-being for babies and caregivers — like home visiting, consultation, and intervention services —to help address and prevent stress and trauma before they become a crisis. How familiar are you with these kinds of programs, and would you support increased funding for them if elected?
I am familiar with a variety of programs providing home care, intervention and supports from pre-natal care to early childhood services, and fully support increased funding for them. Early intervention and support for nutrition, bonding, stress, postpartum depression, care and development are essential to ensuring healthy parents, babies and communities.
The Early On Coalition — which is part of Think Babies — has advocated for increased funding to support families with infants and toddlers who have disabilities and developmental delays to make sure they get the individualized early intervention services they are entitled to. What is your perspective on increasing funding for Early On?
I fully support increased funding for Early On services. As with other type of early intervention, such services improve long term outcomes. As funding for Early On comes from a combination of state and federal sources, increased funding should be pursued both through advocacy with federal officials and increased supplementation at the state level.
If elected, how would you gather input from parents, caregivers, and early childhood professionals in your district when making decisions that affect them?
My approach will always be to seek input and expertise from those most affected by any policy in its formulation and adoption. I view community engagement as my responsibility – rather than waiting for folks to come to me, I will purposefully build feedback loops with the district I represent to ensure that my work represents our collective priorities. These feedback loops will necessarily include advocates, professionals and parents involved in early care and education.
Is there anything else you would like Michigan families, early childhood professionals, and advocates to know about your approach to young children and their families?
Healthy, thriving children require healthy, thriving families. Policy supporting early childhood care and education cannot succeed in isolation – it must be considered part of a broad range of services that collectively build healthy, thriving communities: housing affordability, environmental sustainability and justice, access to high-quality healthcare and thriving wages.
Are there early childhood issues you believe are being overlooked in the current policy conversation in Michigan?
The success and expansion of Rx for Kids is shining a light on the efficacy of interventions that improve outcomes for parents and babies that fall outside of traditional, direct service care approaches by addressing systemic root causes of inequitable outcomes. In this case, universal basic income significantly helps moms and babies thrive while improving outcomes related to maternal health and infant mortality. We know that healthy babies are supported by healthy parents, who are supported by healthy communities. More robust root cause analysis that connects policies at all levels to improved outcomes for infants, toddlers and preschoolers can result in both improved policy prioritization and the identification of overlooked policy that could better lead us to the outcomes we want to see.