Early learning highlights from 2014 legislative session

The 2014 Legislature adjourned its 60-day legislative session on time on March 13. Here are the early learning highlights:

Supplemental budget

• 4 percent base subsidy rate increases for both family home and center child care providers in both 2014 and 2015.
• Funding to pilot tiered reimbursement for Early Achievers participants (higher subsidy rates for child care programs that demonstrate higher quality levels).
• Funding to maintain DEL’s Medicaid Treatment Child Care program while the state works to seek additional long-term revenue sources for it. 
• An additional $50,000 for Reach Out and Read, a key DEL partner in improving early literacy.
• Authorization to use unspent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding to support certain vulnerable families with home visiting services through the Home Visiting Services Account.
• Funding to the Department of Health to work with DEL and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to implement Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthiest Next Generation Initiative.
• Direction to DEL to provide up to 20 percent of Working Connections Child Care slots as contracts rather than vouchers. Language allows DEL to “braid” Working Connections and ECEAP funding to support a full-day experience for participating children. DEL is required to report on the number of children served through these contracted slots.
• Direction to the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and DEL to create a plan to triage child care subsidy overpayment cases to prioritize cases with large overpayments and likelihood of fraudulent activity.

Policy bills

Here is the final status of some key early learning policy bills from 2014:

House Bill 2191, Concerning compliance with inspections of child care facilities

Gov. Inslee signed this bill into law on March 12. HB 2191 requires DEL to consult with city or county enforcement officials prior to requiring alterations of licensed spaces within a family child care home due to inconsistencies in established building codes. It also specifies that unless there is imminent danger, DEL may not modify, suspend or revoke a license while waiting for the consultation or written verification from the county or city. It goes into effect on June 12. 

House Bill 2519, Concerning early education for children involved in the child welfare system

Awaiting Gov. Inslee’s signature. HB 2519 seeks to extend quality early learning opportunities to children in the child welfare system by directing Family Assessment Response (FAR) workers to determine the need for child care, preschool or home visiting services during assessments for child safety and well-being. The bill will allow FAR workers to make child care referrals for non-school age children to licensed child care programs that have attained a level 3, 4 or 5 in our state’s Early Achievers program. FAR rolled out in January 2014 in certain areas of the state and seeks to provide a differential response system for families with accepted reports of child abuse and neglect who have a low to moderate risk of further maltreatment. 

HB 2519 also directs DEL and DSHS to develop recommendations on how to partner to ensure children involved in the child welfare system have access to early learning services and developmentally appropriate child care services. Report is due to Gov. Inslee and appropriate legislative committees by Dec. 31, 2014.

HB 2519 also states that children receiving child protective services or FAR services should receive priority for ECEAP enrollment.

Senate Bill 6093, Allowing valid portable background check clearance cards issued by the Department of Early Learning to be used by certain educational employees and their contractors for purposes of their background check requirements
Awaiting Gov. Inslee’s signature. SB 6093 creates system efficiencies by allowing licensed child care employees working in school district and educational service district settings to only have to secure a DEL background check. Currently, these employees are required to undergo both OSPI and DEL background checks.

House Bill 2377, Improving quality in the early care and education system

The Early Start Act passed the House on Feb. 18, but did not pass the Senate. Two components of the bill are included in the supplemental budget (funding for a tiered reimbursement pilot and a direction to contract out up to 20 percent of Working Connections Child Care slots).

Among other things, HB 2377 would have required child care providers accepting state subsidies to join Early Achievers. The bill generated a great deal of dialogue about the importance of both access and quality, and raised awareness of Early Achievers as our state’s quality framework.  We can expect these issues to arise in subsequent legislative sessions.

House Bill 2165, Concerning Department of Early Learning fatality reviews

This bill passed the House, but did not pass the Senate. It would have required DEL to convene a child fatality review committee if a child fatality occurred in a licensed child care program or ECEAP program.

DEL seeks parent and primary caregiver input

The Department of Early Learning strives to include parent and primary caregiver voices in our work. It's even in our statute! ("The department shall include parents and legal guardians in the development of policies and program decisions affecting their children.")

We are seeking up to 50 parents and primary caregivers of children birth through 8 to join us for a brainstorming session on April 21 and 22.

Your voice will help us plan for ongoing parent and primary caregiver partnerships so that DEL and partners hear what is important to children, families and communities. This includes helping plan for a strong ongoing Parent Advisory Group.

When:
• 5:30 to 8 p.m. on April 21
• 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 22

Where:
Dumas Bay Centre
3200 SW Dash
Point Road
Federal Way, WA 98023

Lodging available for those more than 50 miles away; scholarships available for transportation.

Click here to register by April 1.

For more information, please contact April Messenger at:
april.messenger@del.wa.gov 
360.725.3517

2014 legislative session update

Feb. 7 is the first "cutoff" date for the 2014 Legislature. That means that all bills must be voted out of  the policy committee where they started. View the 2014 Legislative Cutoff Calendar here.

Several early learning-related bills are still being considered, including bills relating to:

Child health

• House Bill 2643, sponsored by Rep. Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, and requested by Gov. Jay Inslee, focuses on childhood obesity prevention by promoting breastfeeding-friendly environments, healthy early learning environments, and healthy school environments.
• House Bill 2329, sponsored by Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, would establish the Breastfeeding Friendly Washington program as a voluntary program to recognize hospitals, health care providers, employers, and child care programs that meet identified criteria to support breastfeeding.

Child safety

• House Bill 2165, sponsored by Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, would require the Department of Early Learning (DEL) to conduct child fatality reviews for fatalities that occur in licensed child care or state-funded preschool.
• House Bill 2919, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Scott, R-Monroe, and Senate Bill 6234, sponsored by Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, would require DEL to consult with county or city officials before requiring any alterations to a family home child care facility.
• House Bill 2695, sponsored by Rep. Kagi, would require DEL to: 
• Provide information on safe sleep practices to applicants for a child care license. 
• Assess for safe sleep practices during all licensing monitoring visits.
• Revoke a child care license the second time a provider is found in violation of safe sleep practices.
• Senate Bill 6093, sponsored by Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Kitsap County, and House Bill 2350, sponsored by Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, would reduce duplication in the background check system for child care employees who work in school district or educational school district settings. (Agency-request legislation)

Improving quality in early learning programs

• House Bill 2377, sponsored by Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, and Senate Bill 6127, sponsored by Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Bellevue, would ramp up participation in Early Achievers, Washington's quality rating and improvement system, and would require child care programs serving state-subsidized children to join Early Achievers. The bills also instruct DEL to create a single set of regulations for early learning programs.
• House Bill 2519, sponsored by Rep. Senn, and Senate Bill 6538, sponsored by Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, would direct family assessment response workers working with families involved in child welfare services to assess for child well-being and safety and refer families to high-quality early learning services.

Early learning system building efforts

• House Bill 2598, sponsored by Rep. Kagi, would clarify in statute that DEL is the lead state agency for the Early Support for Infants and Toddlers program.
• House Bill 2282, sponsored by Rep. Farrell, would add a representative from each of the 10 regional coalitions to the Early Learning Advisory Council as voting members, as well as a representative of school-age child care providers.

What to watch for in the 2014 legislative session

The 2014 legislative session begins on Monday, Jan. 13. It is scheduled to last 60 days. Although this is a "short session," there will be plenty of focus on early learning. Some early learning issues to watch this session: 

• Supporting high-quality early learning opportunities. Expect legislators to introduce several bills relating to expanding early learning opportunities. Many policy ideas will stem from the Child Care Improvements for the Future Task Force recommendations issued in December. Others are next steps from House Bill 1723 from the 2013 session, which laid out a vision for full-day, high-quality early learning opportunities. 
• There will be measures relating to supporting continuity of child care by ensuring families get 12-month subsidy authorization with fewer exceptions. 
• Also expected are measures aiming to strengthen Early Achievers as our state's measure of quality in all early learning programs, and looking at how we can help programs use different public funding sources to support high-quality, full-day programming for children.

• Childhood obesity prevention. Gov. Jay Inslee has requested funding to support his Healthiest Next Generation initiative, which focuses on making sure state agencies are coordinating on policies and programs that support children and families in healthy development. The Department of Health will request a bill relating to this.
• Child safety. Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, has dropped a bill that would require the Department of Early Learning (DEL) to conduct reviews on any child fatality in a licensed child care or state-funded preschool program. (House Bill 2165)
• Background checks. DEL and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction are requesting legislation to streamline the background check process for child care employees who work in school district settings.

DEL has several presentations to legislative committees scheduled on topics including early intervention for infants and toddlers, home visiting, and parenting education. Find committee schedules on the Legislature's website at www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/pages/calendar.aspx.

Highlights from Gov. Inslee's proposed supplemental budget

Gov. Jay Inslee recently released his proposed supplemental budget, which includes additional support for early learning. His proposal now goes to the Legislature for consideration during the 2014 legislative session. A supplemental budget is a “course correction” budget in the middle of a biennium (right now we’re in the 2013-15 state operating budget) to adjust for unexpected costs such as increased caseloads. 

Highlights for early learning include:

• A proposed additional 500 Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) slots for school year 2014-15 (in addition to 1,700 slots already added in the 2013-15 biennium)
• Increasing child care subsidy base rates for family homes.
• Adding a staff member at DEL to work with other state agencies to develop and execute strategies to prevent childhood obesity (the Healthiest Next Generation initiative)
• Funding the Medicaid Treatment Child Care program with state dollars while we continue to work with Health Care Authority on making the program—or elements of the program—eligible for Medicaid reimbursement again.

Read more about the Governor’s proposal here.

Do you know an outstanding primary caregiver? Nominate him or her for an Unsung Hero award!

During Parent Recognition Month each February, DEL’s Strengthening Families Washington, in partnership with Seattle’s Child, honors 28 primary caregivers──parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, grandparents, guardians──who are an Unsung Hero to their families or their communities. We honor each hero with a short bio that will be posted on Seattle's Child website and at a recognition event in late February.

Do you know a parent, primary caregiver, guardian, foster or adoptive parent or a grandparent who shows one or more of these strengths: ability to bounce back from stress (parental resilience), a strong support system (social connections), understands their child’s developmental needs (knowledge of parenting and child development), shows empathy and support towards their child’s feelings (social and emotional competence of children), and not afraid to ask for help or receive help (concrete supports in times of need). All of those traits are called Protective Factors. Research has found that these five Protective Factors reduce stress and promote the well-being of families.

We are accepting nominations for the 2014 Unsung Heroes awards through Jan. 4, 2014. If you know of a primary caregiver whose outstanding work with their own family or in the community deserves recognition, tell us about them in the nomination form and submit it to us by email, fax or mail

Strengthening Families Washington helps families strengthen family bonds, understand childhood development, cope with the challenge of parenting and develop positive discipline skills. Strong, connected families help children grow up healthy and ready to learn.

Murray, others introduce early learning bill that would expand services in all states

Today, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and other members of Congress introduced the Strong Start for America’s Children Act, which builds on President Barack Obama’s early learning proposal that he introduced in his 2013 State of the Union Address.

“Washington is clearly well-positioned to hit the ground running if Congress passes the Strong Start for America’s Children Act,” said DEL Director Bette Hyde. “We’ve been working diligently in Washington to build a statewide early learning system with our Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant win in December 2011. Funding through this bill would allow us to reach even more children and families who have not yet benefitted from early learning services.”

The legislation would greatly increase the quality of and access to early learning programs for children birth to 5. Here’s what the bill proposes, followed in bullets by what’s happening in Washington and what we would need to do:

Fund states’ efforts to provide high-quality, full-day, voluntary preschool for low- and moderate-income families up to 200 percent federal poverty level (an annual income of $46,100 for a family of four). The funds would be distributed proportionally to states with the highest number of 4-year-olds who live at or below the poverty level.

• Washington is expanding its state-funded preschool program, ECEAP, to serve all eligible 3- and 4-year-olds by the 2018-19 school year, at which point it will be a statutory entitlement. The Legislature has invested $22 million in additional ECEAP funding for the 2013-15 biennium. This school year, we are serving 350 additional children. In 2014-15, we will serve an additional 1,350 children. According to caseload estimates, an additional 2,400 slots per school year after that would be needed to serve all eligible children whose families choose to enroll them by school year 2018-19.
• Washington meets many of the proposed requirements, including:
  • Having state-level early learning standards in place.
  • Small class sizes and low adult-to-child ratios.
  • Offering comprehensive services.
  • Pre-k data linked with K-12 data.
  • State advisory council.
  • Comprehensive early learning assessments.
• Requirements that would need additional work/investment in Washington:
• Teachers have bachelor’s degrees and demonstrate competence in early childhood education. ECEAP requires an AA for lead teachers. Currently, 45 percent of ECEAP lead teachers have at least a bachelor’s degree.
• Teachers are paid comparably to K-12 staff. DEL does not establish salary rates for ECEAP—that is determined at the local level by contractors.
• Full-day services. ECEAP requires a minimum of 2.5 class hours per day, 30 weeks per year. The proposal calls for five to six class hours per day, five days per week. The legislative task force established in Senate Bill 5595 is exploring ways to integrate child care and ECEAP to provide a high-quality, full-day experience. The task force’s recommendations are due to the Legislature in December.

Increase the quality of infant and toddler care in child care centers and family home child care settings. The bill provides grants for licensed child care providers to partner with Early Head Start programs, which serve infants and toddlers, to improve the quality of their care and to serve more young children who live at or below poverty. These partnerships would blend federal funds to provide high-quality, full-day care for infants and toddlers.

• Washington provides infant-toddler consultations to licensed child care providers to help improve the quality of care they provide to infants and toddlers. The consultations are research-and evidence-based and are provided by trained professionals free of charge.
• Washington is exploring ways to improve infant/toddler care and better support infant/toddler child care providers through Early Achievers, our state’s quality rating and improvement system.

Support child care quality improvements that are funded by the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which pays for subsidized child care. The bill would provide grants to states to increase the quality standards of subsidized child care to improve the health, safety and school readiness of children. It would require training and professional development of child care providers, bonuses for child care providers who earn increased credentials or degrees, technical assistance for child care providers and improved health and safety licensing standards. It also would require 12-month subsidy authorization for families.

• Early Achievers is available to all child care providers and offers supports to providers including training, scholarships, financial rewards, and coaching. In September 2013, the subsidized child care base rate was increased by 2 percent for providers who enroll in Early Achievers and are rated at a Level 2 or higher. Providers must be rated at a Level 3 or higher within 30 months to maintain the 2 percent increase.
• Through the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant, Washington offers awards to individuals who join our professional development registry (MERIT) and move up the career lattice.
• Washington moved to 12-month subsidy authorization in 2012, unless a change in a family’s circumstances necessitates reauthorization sooner than 12 months.

Encourage continued support for home visiting through the federal Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. Nearly half of infants and toddlers live in homes with a family income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level; home visiting supports the healthy development of our nation’s most at-risk children in their earliest years. Congress is recognizing the importance of providing continued, robust funding to the MIECHV program so that children and families can continue to receive access to high-quality, evidence-based, voluntary home visiting programs.

• Washington has a strong home visiting partnership between DEL, Thrive by Five Washington and others. We currently serve about 1,700 families with evidence-based home visiting programs with a mix of federal, state and private dollars, but know the need is much greater. Washington currently receives both formula and competitive MIECHV funds.

More information

• Read an editorial by Sen. Murray about the Strong Start for America's Children Act.
• Read a statement about the bill from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan
• Read the Strong Start for America’s Children Act of 2013 House Bill and Senate Bill.
• Read the summary of the Strong Start for America’s Children Act of 2013.
• Learn more about the President’s Early Learning Initiative.