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.

DEL reports on outcomes for children who attend state's preschool program in 2012-13

The Department of Early Learning (DEL) reported gains in student achievement and the lowest-ever turnover rate for children who attend Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), Washington's state-funded preschool program.

During the 2012-13 school year, DEL administered ECEAP through 40 contracts with educational service districts, school districts, community colleges, local governments and nonprofits. ECEAP served children in 37 of 39 Washington counties at 269 sites.

In the 2012-13 school year:

• ECEAP had space for 8,391 children. ECEAP served 9,328 children. The ECEAP turnover rate has decreased each year to 11 percent in 2012-13, the lowest in ECEAP’s recorded history.
• At its peak in May 2013, the ECEAP waiting list had 1,186 4-year-olds and 1,281 3-year-olds, totaling 2,467 children. 
• Approximately 32,322 children in Washington were eligible for ECEAP and were not served by ECEAP or the federal Head Start program. Head Start and ECEAP serve 37 percent of Washington children who are eligible for ECEAP. 
• ECEAP received 9 out of 10 quality points from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) for our state early learning guidelines, comprehensive family and health services, staff professional development requirements, class sizes, staff–to-child ratios, meals and DEL’s monitoring of program quality. The 10th quality point would require ECEAP lead teachers to have a bachelor’s degree. DEL currently requires an associate or higher degree with 30 quarter credits of early childhood education. 

During the 2012-13 school year, ECEAP children progressed from below age level to at or above age level during their time in ECEAP:

Read the 2012-13 ECEAP Outcomes report.

Starting this school year, ECEAP is expanding thanks to the 2013 state operating budget, which increased the number of slots and the per-slot funding for ECEAP children. This school year, ECEAP added 350 slots; next year ECEAP will add 1,350 slots and increase the per slot-funding for ECEAP. Each subsequent year after 2014, ECEAP will add up to 2,400 slots until 2018-19, when it becomes an entitlement for all Washington children who qualify.

Read the ECEAP expansion plan.

Federal government approves DEL's plan for spending child care grant

DEL's 2014-15 plan for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) was recently approved by the federal Office of Child Care. 

CCDF is a federal grant administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families. CCDF block grants are awarded to states, territories and Tribal Nations to help ensure families—particularly low-income families—have access to high-quality child care choices.

CCDF pays for:

• Subsidized child care for families. DEL sets policy for Working Connections Child Care subsidy program, while the Department of Social and Health Services determines eligibility and makes payments to providers.
• Activities to improve the quality of child care and offer additional services to families, such as child care referral services and training for child care providers.
• Other research and technical assistance at the state and national levels.

As the lead state agency for the CCDF block grant, DEL must submit a plan every two years for how the funding will be used to improve accessibility and quality of child care in our state.

The 2014-15 plan builds upon goals we set and accomplished for prior years' plans, including moving to 12-month child care subsidy authorization, development of a career lattice and strengthening Washington's professional registry system, called the Managed Education and Registry Information Tool (MERIT). The goals for 2014-15 include:

• Allowing child care licensing to focus on the providers' strengths and allowing DEL child care licensors to focus on high-risk indicators.
• Continued work to improve the quality of child care through Early Achievers, Washington's quality rating and improvement system. 
• Adding resources and supports for child care providers to our online professional development training library.
• Aligning and streamlining Washington early learning systems, including subsidized child care, to better support high-quality programming that gets children ready for success in school. 

Read the entire CCDF plan. 

Child care subsidy rates increase effective Sept. 1, 2013

Starting Sept. 1, the base child care subsidy reimbursement rates increased by 2 percent, with another 2 percent boost for child care providers who choose to join Early Achievers, Washington’s quality rating and improvement system.

The Working Connections Child Care maximum subsidy rates for licensed and license-exempt child care providers increased by 2 percent. This includes both licensed and license-exempt providers:

• License-exempt care is provided by family, friends and neighbors (FFN). They are required to pass a background check, but are otherwise exempt from licensing regulations. They receive $2.24 per hour for the first child and $2.21 per hour per child for additional children from the same family.
• Licensed child care providers are licensed by the Department of Early Learning to provide child care in their homes or in child care centers. The subsidy rate varies by region, the child’s age, and the whether the child is authorized for half-day care or full-day care. Rates vary from $9.58 per half-day to $45.27 per full day.

Licensed child care providers who choose to participate in Early Achievers, and are rated at Level 2 or higher, are eligible for an additional 2 percent quality bonus. The bonus is 2 percent of the full-day and half-day subsidy amount billed by the provider. Level 2 providers must advance to Level 3 rating or higher within 30 months to maintain the quality bonus. Child care providers who participate in Early Achievers are also eligible for other financial incentives, free training and technical assistance to help them improve the quality of their care.

Families qualify for child care subsidy based on family size, income, and participation in approved activities. Families pay child care providers a monthly copayment based on the family’s size and income. The copayment amount starts at $15 per month. View the copayment schedule.

The rate increases also apply to Seasonal Child Care, which pays child care subsidies for eligible families who are seasonally employed in agricultural settings.

DEL is revising WCCC rules to align with the increased payment rate. We are accepting public comment on the rules changes through October 8.