State Budget

On Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Washington Governor Chris Gregoire released her “all-cuts” state budget. We knew it would be grim, as the state budget is projected to be at a $2.6 billion deficit. The early learning world was bracing for cuts, but hoping for the best.

As early learning advocates we had been spreading the message of “protect early learning.” Our partners at the Children’s Alliance mobilized a campaign and had over 600 messages sent to the governor telling her to protect early learning.

Early learning advocates aren’t naïve, we knew that the State needed to balance the budget, but we also understood the reality that babies and children can’t wait. We can’t tell a baby “Please stop learning and growing until the economy recovers.” We were hopeful that early learning would be spared, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

Below is a short list of the proposed cuts to early learning, it is compiled by the Washington State Office of Financial Management and notes from the Early Learning Action Alliance:

• Eliminate state funding for the Career and Wage Ladder, a pilot program that provides wage incentives for child care providers to advance their professional development.  ($1.5 million)
• Eliminate state funding for the Child Care Resource and Referral Network, which will continue to receive federal funding to operate local referral hot lines and provide training.  ($425,000)
• Maternity support for more than 50,000 high-risk pregnant women.  ($28 million)
• All day kindergarten for students living in poverty. ($33.6 million)
• Children’s health care (the Apple Health Care program), for 16,000 low-income kids.  ($11.6 million)
• Eliminating funding for 3 year-olds from the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) ($10.5 mil) ECEAP is a comprehensive “whole child”, family-focused preschool program designed to help low-income and at-risk children and families succeed in school and life.
• Working Connections Child Care (helps families pay for child care) Reduced from 3,800 cases per month to 1,400 cases per month, 63.2% reduction. ($88.5 million)
• Elimination of Council for Children and Families, which supports child abuse and neglect prevention programs.

Many of us understand that the budget needs to be balanced and hard decisions need to be made. There isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ that will solve all of the state’s budget problems. But these cuts will impact our youngest residents the most. As my in-laws wrote in their note to the Governor:

There should be no higher priorities than ensuring the best possible health and learning opportunities for our youngest Washingtonians. Please put early childhood health and education first on your "must have" list.

Our household is more than willing to support whatever strategies are necessary to ensure protection for the well-being of our youngest.  Our future, really.
 
Thank you.
Donald & Lina H.
Poulsbo

The red flag has been raised. Talk to your neighbors, family, friends, legislators, and the Governor, about what early learning means to you. Tell them that children can’t wait. Waiting for the economy to recover isn’t an option. As the Governor moves forward let her know that preserving the investments made in early learning is something you care about. Repeating the words of my father-in-law: “There should be no higher priority than ensuring the best possible health and learning opportunities for our youngest Washingtonians.”