This is part of a series of legislative updates on the state's 2022 General Session. See also:
BACKGROUND: The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is Washington’s state-funded pre-kindergarten program for 3- and 4-year-old children from families furthest from opportunity. All children enrolled in special education services are eligible for ECEAP, but the state doesn’t fund enough slots to give everyone eligible a spot and uses a priority points system to weight applicants.
The program is modeled after the federal Head Start program, which includes standards for program quality, family support, and classroom structure.
Most ECEAP slots are for part-day preschool, which can run 3 to 4 hours a day, for 4 or 5 days a week; some are school-day (6 hours) and others are working day.
In recent years, advocates won big victories and got state
legislators to agree that every child who is eligible for ECEAP – and whose
families want to participate in the program – should get a spot. This means growth from 15,077 slots this year to 27,500 slots by the 2026-27 school year.
DISABILITY TIE-IN: ECEAP and Head Start are some of the few inclusive preschool options for children with developmental delay or disabilities. As the state builds capacity, children with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) will have more options to learn alongside peers without disabilities.
ADVOCACY FOR 2022: The Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP has several 2022 advocacy goals to address expansion and other issues:
- Quality curriculum – Ask: $1.3 million to pay for curriculum and assessment
- Summer ECEAP – Ask: $9.3 million to provide 9 weeks of needed extra services for 2,000 children
- School-day and working-day slots – Ask: $9.3 million to convert part-day slots to longer school- and working-day slots for 2,777 children
- Expansion & flexibility – Ask: Funding for 350 additional ECEAP slots in 2022 and 40 flexible slots for families with emergent need
- Pandemic impact – Ask: $5 million for hazard pay/retention bonuses to address staff shortages and other pandemic impacts
- Complex support – Ask: $1.8 million to fund greater demand for trauma services and staffing during the pandemic
The Early Learning Action Alliance, and statewide coalition that The Arc of King County is a member of, also has several policy priorities that would benefit ECEAP:
- Reduce barriers to workforce recruitment: Reform the background check process with a long-term investment to ensure a 72-hour turnaround for early learning applicants. Support funding background check application and fingerprint processing fees for early learning workers.
- Maintain an enhanced rate for providers: Fund a per-slot, quality support rate for DCYF to provide curriculum and assessment supports to Early Childhood Education and Assistance program providers. ($1.3 million)
- Minimize learning loss among our youngest learners: Fund nearly nine weeks of ECEAP during summer 2022. ($5.9 million)
- Improve educational availability for children: The budget will increase affordable, high-quality, early learning programs by converting a portion of the part day Early Childhood Education Assistance Program slots to school and working-day slots. ($9.3 million)
If you want to engage on this issue, write or call to your legislators and let them know about the budget requests.
- You can find your legislative district and state legislators here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
- You can find contact information for all legislators and see who is on the budget writing committees here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rosters/
Talking points shared by advocates:
- COVID-19 has hit ECEAP and Head Start families especially
hard and providers have stepped up with both in-person and remote education
services; helped families secure food and supplies; connected families and kids
with mental health supports; and helped families navigate through lost jobs and
health challenges.
- ECEAP is one of our state’s most effective tools
to eliminate racial disparities for our youngest children, and 66% of ECEAP
children are children of color. There
continue to be large disparities in health and education outcomes for white
students and children of color, and ECEAP helps close the readiness gap.
- Research shows that ECEAP works, and the benefits extend well beyond kindergarten. A Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) concluded the impact of ECEAP on later student test scores is nearly twice the average effect of pre-K programs in other states.
