The House Oversight Subcommittees on Children’s Welfare Systems and State and Local Public Assistance Programs convened a joint hearing on Tuesday to examine findings from a recent Auditor General performance audit focused on the state’s child development and child care programs.

The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) was launched by Gov. Whitmer in late 2023 to “improve education outcomes from birth through postsecondary education.”

The hearing centered on communication failures, administrative breakdowns and accountability gaps within the department and its oversight of child care providers. Lawmakers heard testimony from the Office of the Auditor General and MiLEAP officials regarding deficiencies identified in the audit, including inconsistent guidance to providers, delays in communication and weaknesses in internal systems meant to support families and child care professionals.

The audit findings show that:

• MiLEAP failed to answer calls for providers 60% of the time
• The call center had no written policies or goals to identify areas of improvement
• MiLEAP did not notify an estimated 75% of license exempt providers of benefit and billing information, leading to confusion and uncertainty of program coverage.

Tuesday’s hearing was led by State Rep. Luke Meerman, chair of the Child Welfare Subcommittee, and Rep. Jason Woolford, chair of the State and Local Assistance Programs Subcommittee.

Rep. Meerman shared his disappointment that despite the department’s $662 million budget, it took an audit to get the center to pick up the phone, and further emphasized that the results of the audit are part of a broader pattern of government programs failing Michigan families.

“Public programs that were supposed to help families are all too often undermined by poor management, weak systems and a lack of accountability,” said Meerman (R-Coopersville). “It should not take an audit to get a taxpayer-funded entity to perform its basic functions, especially this one that exists to serve vulnerable children and working families. Sadly, our House Oversight Committee has confirmed time and again that without accountability, government waste occurs right before our eyes every day.”

Rep. Woolford made several remarks about the customer service failures and poor standards within the department that resulted in some 123,000 missed calls over 18 months, a troublesome statistic that he said signals the system is clearly broken.

MiLEAP officials agreed in part with the nonpartisan audit into the department’s communication with providers and committed to improvement. Chairs Meerman and Woolford remain committed to ongoing oversight efforts into state government.