Michigan lawmakers are investigating a Clinton Township daycare that reportedly received more than $1 million in taxpayer funding despite apparently lacking a valid childcare license and showing no clear signs of operation.
The investigation follows 1st Premier Learning Academy & Daycare, which Republican members of the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Assistance Programs say received approximately $1.1 million in taxpayer resources between 2023 and 2025.
State Rep. Jason Woolford, who chairs the subcommittee, released a video showing a visit to the listed location. In the footage, Woolford peers through a window into what appears to be an empty classroom with the lights on, walks around the building’s exterior and finds a rear entrance unlocked. No one answered when he attempted to make contact.
“The lights are on, but no one’s home,” Woolford said in the video.
According to Woolford, businesses in the same complex told investigators they had never seen children at the facility or observed it operating as a daycare.
“Some of the businesses in this complex have said that they’ve never seen children here, that they’ve never seen this open, and they’ve been here for decades,” Woolford said.
The lawmaker also said investigators were unable to verify that the daycare was properly licensed through either the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs or MiLEAP, the state agency that oversees early childhood education programs.
“1st Premier Learning Academy and Daycare presents itself as an early learning childcare provider,” Woolford wrote on Facebook. “The Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Assistance Program’s investigation found no identifiable childcare license for this facility through LARA or MiLEAP.”
He said searches of the business name, alternate versions of the name and the listed address failed to produce a valid or active license connected to the operation.
The findings raise serious questions about oversight of taxpayer-funded childcare assistance programs.
“Michigan families and taxpayers deserve to know that childcare programs are legitimate, properly licensed, and actually serving children,” he said. “When over $1 million in taxpayer funds are tied to a facility with many unanswered questions and red flags, it represents a breakdown that cannot be ignored.”
Staff for the House oversight subcommittee also said they were unable to reach anyone connected to the daycare.
The investigation remains ongoing, and lawmakers have not yet announced whether the case has been referred to law enforcement or state inspectors.
The Michigan case also comes as federal investigators continue examining allegations of widespread fraud involving childcare and other public assistance programs in neighboring Minnesota. FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that agents had already surged investigative resources to the state before a viral social media video drew national attention to a reportedly vacant childcare facility that was allegedly receiving millions of dollars in government funding.
“The FBI is aware of recent social media reports in Minnesota,” Patel wrote on X. “However, even before the public conversation escalated online, the FBI had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs. Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide.”
While authorities have not revealed any connection between the Michigan daycare investigation and the Minnesota cases, both have intensified scrutiny over how taxpayer-funded childcare and public assistance programs are monitored, raising broader questions about whether existing oversight mechanisms are sufficient to detect and prevent large-scale fraud before millions of public dollars are distributed.
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