2-News

10 — Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MADELYN VERVAECKE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT MIVERVAE@UMICH.EDU

“

Poor kids are just as 
bright ... as white kids.”

When Joe Biden made 

this gaffe on Aug. 9, 2019, in 
response to a question about 
his education policy, I felt 
my skin crawl. While I think 
this was a genuine mistake in 
word choice, Biden’s comment 
had real resonance because it 
reflects an America where 
your race and socioeconomic 
status are inextricably linked. 

Since schools are largely 

funded 
through 
property 

taxes, 
many 
majority-

minority 
urban 
areas, 

especially Black and Hispanic 
ones, tend to have lower-
quality 
schools 
and 
more 

financial 
hardship, 
which 

decreases 
their 
likelihood 

to obtain a postsecondary 
degree. This is a major reason 
why 54% of associate’s degrees 
and 63% of bachelor’s degrees 
conferred in 2018 belong to 
white graduates, while 36% of 
associate’s degrees and 25% of 
bachelor’s degrees belong to 
Hispanic and Black graduates 
combined. 

However, 
attainment 

disparities do not only fall 
on 
racial 
lines. 
Regional 

factors, especially the rural-
urban divide, exacerbate the 
opportunity gap. As of 2015, 
16.7% of rural families lived 
in 
poverty 
and 
therefore 

experience 
increased 

hardship in attending college. 
Thus Michigan, a state with 
significant 
proportions 
of 

urban 
Black 
communities 

(13.4%) 
and 
rural 
white 

communities 
(24.1%), 
has 

many institutional barriers 
for its citizens to attend 
college, contributing to only 
44% of Michiganders between 
ages 16 and 64 having a 
postsecondary 
degree 
or 

equivalent certificate as of 
2016.

Enter 
Gov. 
Gretchen 

Whitmer. In her State of 
the State address on Feb. 
12, 2019, she announced the 
MI Opportunity Initiative, 
which seeks to increase the 
percentage of Michiganders 
with a postsecondary degree 
to 60% by 2030. One of the 
main methods of her three-
pronged approach is the MI 
Opportunity 
Scholarship, 

which 
guarantees 
every 

Michigan 
graduating 
high 

schooler two years of free 
tuition at any community 
college in the state, regardless 
of means. It also provides 
a two-year scholarship of 
$2,500 per year to any public 
or private non-profit four-
year university in Michigan, 
provided that the student 
averaged at least a 3.0-grade 
point average and is from a 
household making less than 
$80,000 per year. 

This 
policy 
is 
modeled 

off of the Oregon Promise 
and 
Tennessee 
Promise 

scholarship 
programs, 

which 
both 
guarantee 

free community college to 
graduating high schoolers, and 
their success signals that the 
MI Opportunity Scholarship 
could have similar success 
in 
increasing 
enrollment 

at 
community 
colleges. 

According to Gov. Whitmer, 
the 
target 
population 
is 

Michigan adults as a whole, 
so the scholarship will likely 
serve that population well 
since the Oregon Promise 
increased 
across-the-board 

enrollment between 4% and 
5% at community colleges. 

Similarly, the Tennessee 

Promise increased enrollment 
4% in its first year and 
sustained that rate in the 
following year. Additionally, 
the Tennessee Promise shows 
an increase, albeit small, in 
enrollment 
for 
minorities. 

While they are not the stated 
targets of this scholarship 
program, 
increasing 
the 

attendance of minority and 
rural 
students 
should 
be 

of 
paramount 
importance 

to 
lawmakers, 
and 
these 

programs alone do not seem 
to accomplish this goal to a 
large extent.

Economically, 
the 
MI 

Opportunity 
Scholarship 

will cost $80 million to $100 
million, but the upfront cost 
will be offset by the future 
economic benefits of having 
more educated professionals 
in 
the 
state. 
These 

professionals will be paying 
more 
taxes 
because 
they 

make larger sums of money 
and they will stimulate the 
economy because of more 
entrepreneurship, disposable 
income 
and 
community 

involvement. 
This 
benefit 

may 
be 
deferred, 
but 
it 

ultimately 
mitigates 
the 

upfront costs. 

The most salient argument 

against this policy is that 
political support is going to be 
difficult to gather in the state 
legislature, especially when 
Democrats 
control 
every 

statewide elected office while 
the Republicans control both 
houses of the legislature. This 
legislature has already made 
life exceedingly difficult for 
Whitmer’s 
administration, 

having 
blocked 
her 

environmental 
executive 

order and bringing the state 
to the brink of a government 
shutdown in her first year in 
office. 

This partisan environment 

is not particularly conducive 
to 
deal-cutting, 
but 
this 

bill could garner bipartisan 
support in the near future, 
taking 
inspiration 
from 

the 
Tennessee 
Promise 

program, which was passed 
by a Republican legislature 
with 
bipartisan 
support 

and signed by a Republican 
governor. If Gov. Whitmer 
and the Democrats make this 
a chief legislative priority, 
they 
could 
likely 
bring 

Republicans along, because 
everyone should be able to 
agree on educating our state’s 
children. It is just a question 
of expending political capital 
to pass the policy.

Now, while I recognize 

that 
the 
MI 
Opportunity 

Scholarship has perils, it is 
nevertheless a step in the right 
direction toward mitigating 
harmful impacts of economic 
inequality 
and 
increasing 

educational 
achievement 

across the board. 

If 
this 
law 
passes, 

Michiganders 
will 
see 

the positive effects in the 
foreseeable 
future, 
which 

will make it easier to pass 
legislation further expanding 
funding 
for 
community 

colleges 
and 
incentivizing 

achievement 
in 
four-year 

programs. These laws can 
finally help Michigan close 
the opportunity gap, because 
all kids really do deserve just 
as much of a chance as the 
white kids.

Whitmer is fighting to 

create more opportunities 

for Michiganders

KEITH JOHNSTONE | COLUMNIST

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Keith Johnstone can be reached at 

keithja@umich.edu.

JULIAN BARNARD | COLUMNIST
Don’t let Biden forget about universal pre-k
I

n the wake of a contentious 
“culture war” election, it is 
easy for important policy 

promises to be forgotten. Much 
of President-elect Joe Biden’s 
appeal to many of his supporters 
was that he is not Donald Trump. 
Still, Biden came with his own 
array of policy promises. Some of 
them were simple and required no 
apparent capital investment, such 
as Biden’s promise that his team 
will lead with “science and truth.” 
Many of the president-elect’s 
proposals, however, will require 
significant capital investments 
and political will. 

Biden’s promise of providing 

universal 
prekindergarten 
for 

all 3 and 4-year-olds falls in 
the latter category. A universal 
preschool program would be 

highly beneficial to American 
families; it offers lifelong skills, 
an immense societal benefit and 
dramatic financial opportunities 
for parents. Unfortunately, this is 
a promise that may be obscured 
by 
other, 
more 
politically 

advantageous issues. 

To understand the importance 

of a universal prekindergarten 
program, we must understand 
how many of our preschool-aged 
children are currently enrolled 
in 
prekindergarten 
programs. 

As of 2018, only 68% of 4-year-
olds and 40% of 3-year-olds 
were enrolled in some sort of 
pre-primary program. These are 
worryingly low metrics and leave 
the United States far behind other 
developed nations. Less than 70% 
of Americans between 3 and 5 
years old were enrolled in some 

sort of pre-elementary program, 
compared to over 90% of children 
in France, Israel, Germany and 
11 other countries in the same 
age group. This disparity could 
have significant consequences 
for 
America’s 
place 
in 
the 

international order. Biden himself 
has claimed, “Any country that 
out-educates us is going to out-
compete us.”

Many children are deprived of 

a preschool education because of 
the cost — the median yearly price 
of child care in the U.S. has been 
calculated to be approximately 
$8,320. For a family living below 
the federal poverty line, up to a 
fifth of a family’s yearly income 
can be consumed through child 
care expenses. The benefits of 
universal preschool are not only 

present for the poorest Americans 
— child care costs consume 
between 7% to 12% of a family’s 
income for most middle-class 
Americans as well. 

The 
benefits 
of 
preschool 

programs for 3 and 4-year-olds 
are significant. Children who are 
enrolled in preschool programs 
have been observed to repeat 
grades significantly less often, 
enroll in more honors classes and 
score better on standardized tests. 
The prevailing theory for why 
preschool is so important is that 
it offers an extra opportunity for 
children to become accustomed 
to the school environment while 
receiving beneficial stimulation 
at the same time. These gains are 
much harder to make up later in a 
student’s education. 

Aside from the developmental 

advantages a preschool education 
confers, universal pre-K also has 
economic benefits for the people 
who are not sitting in those 
little plastic seats: the parents. 
When preschool is taken care 
of for parents, they have greater 
freedom to fully participate in 
the American labor market. In 
Michigan alone, there are over 
49,000 parents who had to quit 
their jobs or make significant 
cutbacks in participation because 
of child care problems, according 
to a 2016 survey. Losing this 
many workers has real economic 
implications. Over 49,000 fewer 
workers means that there are 
fewer people who are able to 
contribute to the economy in the 
forms of manufacturing capacity, 
a healthy labor market, state tax 

revenues and more.

There is also the matter of 

efficiency. Researchers estimated 
that every dollar spent on the 
city’s near-universal preschool 
yielded about two dollars worth of 
societal benefits. The development 
of self-regulation skills during the 
ages of 3 to 5 is crucial and is more 
costly to compensate for later 
in life. In the midst of economic 
calamity, and with an enormous 
federal deficit, it is a critical time 
to invest in policies that pay for 
themselves several times over and 
lay the foundation for a stronger 
next generation of Americans. 

Michiganders 
in 
particular 

should 
be 
at 
the 
frontlines 

of 
advocating 
for 
universal 

preschool. 
Many 
educators 

and legislators look fondly on 
Michigan’s Great Start Readiness 

Program, which has provided for 
the second year of kindergarten 
for many Michigan children. 
Michigan has seen the benefits 
for educating most of their 
4-year-olds, but the end goal 
for preschool education should 
still be to provide for all 3 to 
5-year-olds. While Gov. Gretchen 
Whitmer is pushing for universal 
preschool for 4-year-olds by the 
end of her term, Michiganders 
will still benefit from a broader, 
federal approach to universal 
preschool. 

Biden and his administration 

may need an additional push to 
put universal pre-K front and 
center. Neither Biden nor Vice 
President-elect Kamala Harris 
have tweeted (an arbitrary but 
still important metric) on the 
topic of universal preschool since 
July 2020. This topic has been 
obscured by many meritorious 
causes, but nonetheless should not 
be overlooked. 

Since the President-elect and 

Vice President-elect’s tweets last 
summer, the weakness of our 
nation’s child care infrastructure 
has been highlighted as millions 
of students fall behind in math, 
reading, etc. However, a president 
has a limited number of things 
that they can achieve. Though 
Biden comes into office with 
a clear mandate to captain a 
systemic recovery, his political 
purse nonetheless has a bottom. 

Former 
President 
Barack 

Obama, 
for 
instance, 
was 

very interested in expanding 
preschool, yet was met with a 
stony face from an unenthusiastic 
Congress. Biden will have a 
much 
better 
opportunity 
to 

affect change in pre-elementary 
education — unlike during the 
Obama years, universal preschool 
has many ardent supporters in 
Congress, such as U.S. Rep. Rosa 
DeLauro, D-CT, the chair of the 
powerful House Appropriations 
subcommittee.

Universal preschool has been 

demonstrated as a sound policy 
that will save Americans money 
in the long run while caring for 
our nation’s children. Even with 
Democratic control of both the 
House of Representatives and 
the Senate, universal preschool 
legislation is unlikely to be 
enacted in the absence of strong, 
focused leadership. It will take 
passion from both the right and 
the left to ensure, amidst the 
ocean of change Biden hopes to 
enact, that this policy will stay in 
the spotlight.

Design by Lauren Kuzee

Julian Barnard can be reached at 

jcbarn@umich.edu.

