2007.....A Wonderful Year for Early Learning

Happy New Year!

2007 is shaping up to be a great year for early learning in Washington State and around the country. The public, parents and politicans have joined the parade of supporters who want to provide our youngest children with high quality child care, universal pre-school and informed, educated caregivers.

Recently, Governor Gregoire completed her budget and made it public. Although many of you may have already seen it, I thought that the narrative I received that relates only to early learning is clear and understandable and I wanted to share it with you. I would love to have your comments on the proposed budget. See below:

Governor Gregoire's Early Learning Budget for the Bienenum
2007-2009

1) Parent, Family, and Caregiver Supports ($4.8 million GF-S)

Provides funding to develop and distribute supports to parents and other caregivers, such as care giving booklets, play and learn resources, and a public awareness campaign. Funding is included to conduct a needs assessment for these and other tools, enhance the resource phone line, provide parenting education workshops and play and learn groups, and integrate programs with social service agencies. DEL must measure effectiveness and report back by October 2008.

2) Quality Rating and Improvement System ($9.3 million GF-S)

This item provides funding to continue developing, and to begin implementing on a limited scale, a quality rating and improvement system for state-funded child care providers in Washington. Under the QRIS model, providers will be able to access supports such as training, grants, mentoring, and assessment in order to raise their levels of quality care. Funding is also included to support an ongoing state level advisory committee to the department.

3: Early Childhood Program Enhancement and Expansion ($27.0 million GF-S)

This item provides funding to increase the number of ECEAP slots by 1,000 per year and to increase average rates by 8% per year.

4) Family Child Care Provider Labor Agreement and Parity ($85.8 million GF-S)

$2 million of this amount will go to the DEL for a subsidy and licensing training program and to support administration of the agreement. The remaining $83.8 million will go to DSHS to support the subsidy increases outlined in the agreement. Of the total amount, $53.4 million is for a subsidy rate increase (7% the first year, 3% the second year), tiered reimbursement, infant and non-standard hour bonuses, and health care coverage for family child care providers. An additional $32.4 million is included to provide comparable rate increases to child care centers.

5) Early Learning Partnerships ($190,000 GF-S)

This will fund a DEL grant program to promote development of private-public partnerships at the local level.

6) Negotiated Rulemaking and Improved Regulations ($281,000 GF-S)

This item includes funding for negotiated agency rulemaking and to provide capacity within DEL to improve and simplify current child care regulations.

7) Benchmark Redesign Partnership ($300,000 GF-S)

This item will allow DEL to pay for a portion of the cost to complete the benchmarks redesign.

8) Cost Allocation Plan Development ($100,000 GF-S)

Funding for a consultant to create a cost allocation model for DEL, as required to draw down federal funds. An additional $100,000 is proposed in 2007 Supplemental to begin this process.

9) All Day K Phase-in at 10% per Year ($41.6 million GF-S) – OSPI

All-day kindergarten will be phased in beginning with students eligible for free and reduced price lunch in the highest poverty schools. To qualify, schools must review the quality of their programs and make appropriate changes, use a kindergarten assessment tool, and demonstrate strong connections and communication with early learning providers and parents.

10) K-3 Demonstration Projects ($9.5 million GF-S) – OSPI

Grants to ten schools will provide the opportunity to implement best practices in developmental learning in kindergarten through third grade. The grants will provide funding for all-day kindergarten, class sizes of 18 students, instructional coaches, and six additional professional development days for teachers. Participating schools will be required to use some of the class size reduction funds provided through Initiative 728 to help reduce class size to at least 18 students in kindergarten through third grade.

11) Information System Design and Development ($6 million GF-S)

The Department of Social and Health Services, in conjunction with DEL and with the assistance of the Department of Information Systems, will begin the process of designing and developing an early learning information system. This will be a new information system to allow for improved data management in the licensing and support of child care providers, plus it may eventually include a subsidy payment function.

12) High Demand CC Slots for Early Ed. Math/Science ($2 million GF-S) – SBCTC

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) will increase its statewide enrollment in early childhood education by 250 student FTEs in the biennium, with a particular focus on early math and science awareness.

13) Federal Child Care Grant Transfer ($216.8 million GF-S)

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) will move from DSHS to DEL. CCDF provides for some of the federal funding to support the state's Working Connections Child Care program. Part of this grant will remain at DEL to pay for the state's child care licensing function and quality initiatives ($80 million), and the balance will be transferred to DSHS to pay for subsidies.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this. I appreciate your comments and suggestions. We can all learn from each other and this seems like a great way to share our thoughts about early learning.

Jeanne