(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/04/2025) The Senate will have a new appropriations subcommittee overseeing Michigan's Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential (MiLEAP), with Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Keego Harbor) as chair. 

MiLEAP oversees state child care subsidies, college and job training access and the Great Start Readiness Program, which is the state's tuition-free preschool program prioritizing households at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line.  

The Governor created the department in July 2023 through an executive order, and it received its first-ever budget last year with a more than $643.9 million appropriation and 343 full-time work positions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.  

Bayer, the second-term senator, will now chair two committees – the MiLEAP appropriations subcommittee and the Michigan Department of Education Appropriations Subcommittee (MDE).  

The State Board of Education has been critical of MiLEAP since the beginning of its creation, worried the new department overlaps with MDE's purposes and subtracts money from its budget. The MDE and the state Superintendent, who is not a governor appointee, saw a more than $482 million (74.5%) reduction in its budget due to the program shifts. 

Last October, Republican Board of Education member Tom McMillin and Democratic President Pamela Pugh expressed to MiLEAP Director Beverly Walker-Griffea in a public meeting that they didn't understand "why any of the functions required a second Department of Education." 

However, Bayer is particularly excited to unleash her experience into the new role.  

She worked for a data collection and software solutions company in Oakland County before joining the Legislature. The company, ardentCause L3C, worked with nonprofit and education groups. 

"It's something that's near and dear to my heart from my work before this, doing analysis and data work. We worked a lot in early childhood, and know what the impact of a year in preschool means," Bayer said. "I know what the impact of good childcare means for the development of children in their future success. I am very excited about being able to be a part of making that better."  

When the MiLEAP budget was being created in the last budget-making season, work was done on the Senate side through the standing Senate Appropriations Committee as a whole.  

Sen. Veronica Klinefelt (D-Eastpointe) and Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) will serve on the new MiLEAP-focused subcommittee as well.  

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) also submitted other committee assignments Tuesday, with many fulfilling seat vacancies left by now-U.S. Rep. Kristen Mcdonald Rivet (D-Bay City). Other announcements include:  

- Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo) will be replacing McDonald Rivet as chair of the Joint Capital Outlay committee.  

- Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint) will succeed her as majority vice chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing the state's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Klinefelt will be a member of the Senate Appropriations DHHS Subcommittee as well.  

- McCann will be replacing McDonald Rivet as the majority vice chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee overseeing the state's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Cherry will join the LEO and MEDC appropriations subcommittee, as well.  

- Bayer will be joining the Senate Appropriations PreK-12 subcommittee.  

- Senate Majority Floor Leader Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) will join the Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee.