United Ways of Washington
April 16, 2010

Contents
+ Update on Special Session
+ Early Learning Budget Victories
+ Looking Ahead: Non-session items
+ Subscription Information

UPDATE ON SPECIAL SESSION
What happened

• Just after 1:00am on Tuesday, 4/13, the 30-day special session was adjourned after lawmakers narrowly approved a $31 billion operating budget. As the Governor acknowledged at the close of special session, lawmakers made tough choices and they took tough votes to approve a final budget and revenue package that would represent Washingtonians’ values by offsetting deep cuts to state services that have endured rising demand as the economy weakened.
• Through  intense and difficult negotiations lasting up to the very last hour, lawmakers agreed to deal with the $2.8 billion deficit and balance the budget by:
• Cutting $755 million from state spending which includes about $120 million in cuts to K-12 public schools and $73 million in reduced funding to state universities and community colleges. The cuts will result in 1,500 layoffs and likely furloughs for non-emergency related state workers.
• Making balance transfers between programs.
• Using federal dollars to off-set State General Fund spending.
• Approving a mixture of targeted tax increases including discretionary purchases like cigarettes ($1 per pack), beer (28 cents per six-pack of non-microbrews), soda (2 cents per can), and candy and bottled water (general sales tax to be charged) to raise an anticipated $800 million in new revenue.
• As lawmakers entered a second year of unprecedented fiscal challenges, it was clear for legislative leadership that securing new revenue would be necessary, although unpopular with some groups, to avoid devastating cuts to state-funded items like roads, police, firefighters, schools, college education, and more. 

Potential roll-backs

• At the close of special session professional ballot organizer, Tim Eyman, promptly filed eight measures aimed at rolling-back a number of taxes that lawmakers approved in the revenue package.
• Additionally, Eyman is collecting signatures on I-1053 which would reinstate the requirement of achieving a super-majority, or two-thirds vote, in order for lawmakers to approve tax increases. This year policymakers voted to temporarily suspend the super-majority threshold until 2011. The super-majority requirement on legislative tax increases was established due to I-960, a ballot measure spearheaded by Eyman, which passed with 51% of the public vote in 2007.

Session closed, election season opened

• The majority of seats in the legislature are up for election this year. All positions in the House and half those in the Senate are open for election in 2010. Incumbents were able to begin campaign work when special session concluded.
• Read about what you can do to engage incumbents and candidates on early learning issues in the 4-8-2010 legislative update.

EARLY LEARNING BUDGET IMPACTS

• In the 4-8-2010 legislative update, we reported on some early learning policy victories. Five key bills related to preschool (HB 2731 & SB 6759), child care subsidies for working parents (HB 3141), transferring an early intervention program to DEL (HB 6593), and elevating the focus on birth-three services (HB 2867) were signed into law the week of March 29th.
• The focus of special session was balancing the budget. Items including funding for Working Connections Child Care (WCCC), home visitation, core services for the Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network, Early Care and Education Assistance Program (ECEAP), and the Career and Wage Ladder which all support children and families in our communities were on the negotiation table.

The good news

• The actions lawmakers took to approve a final budget and revenue package made it possible to protect critical services for children and families in our communities. Including:
• Preservation of Working Connections Child Care so 17,000 working families continue to have crucial support with paying for early childhood care and education.
• Continued investment in all-day kindergarten which is being implemented in the highest poverty school districts.
• Preservation of the Career and Wage Ladder which supports quality improvements in more than 60 child care centers.

The not so good news

• Significant Cuts to the Council for Children & Families Administrative Capacity.  One of the key unresolved issues at the end of the legislative session was the fate of a proposal to establish a Home Visiting Services Account designed to leverage our state’s public investment with additional private funding.  Currently, the Council for Children & Families (CCF) administers Evidenced Based Home Visiting.  One proposal considered during session was to transfer this funding to the Department of Early Learning (DEL) who, in turn, would contract with Thrive by Five Washington to leverage the private dollars and administer the program. 
• In the final budget, the Legislature adopted a compromise wherein $300,000 in home visiting funds was transferred from CCF to DEL.  In addition, the Legislature added $200,000 in new General Fund dollars to the newly created Home Visiting Services Account, bringing the total in the account to $500,000.
• This means that CCF retains funding to administer home visiting. Yet, the establishment of the new account means that Thrive by Five Washington will also have a role with home visitation services.    
• The action causing concern is that the Legislature also reduced CCF’s other operational funding by $300,000. This will limit CCF’s ability to provide necessary technical assistance and administrative support for the home visiting services they will continue to administer, including the evidence-based home visitation evaluation currently underway with Washington State University, and the other programs they offer such as leading the state’s Post Partum Depression awareness campaign, Strengthening Families WA, and more.  
• This cut comes on top of reductions made since state fiscal year 2009, bringing a total reduction of 57%. 
• The Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network’s (CCR&R) State General Fund investment for its local CCR&R core services was cut in half, equating to a $212k cut. This represents a 7% decrease in CCR&R funding and, combined with cuts taken last session, results in over a 27% decline in funding for the current biennium. This cut will result in massive delays for:
• unemployed parents searching for child care as they return to the workforce;
• child care providers seeking ways to improve and sustain their child care small business during these tough economic times;
• communities and stakeholders that depend on CCR&R to convene community-level discussions on implementing work like QRIS and the Early Learning Plan initiatives; and
• job loss throughout CCR&R’s regional programs.
• The budget transfers all subsidy policy out of DEL and over to DSHS.  Since this transfer is based on the assumption that there is duplication over this work the Legislature sees this as an effort to become more efficient.  There is concern among advocates that this move may be contrary to both the original intent for the creation of DEL and the emerging systemic and holistic vision at DEL. Yet, there is work being done at DSHS to maximize technology to make accessing this program more user-friendly and efficient.

Helpful links

• Budget information from the Legislative Evaluation & Accountability Program Committee including budget proposals and final budgets (operating, capitol, and transportation).
• Budget overview, revenue analysis, and commentary on Schmudget, a blog hosted by the Washington State Budget & Policy Center.
• Education-specific legislative session wrap-up message and a budget comparison chart from the League of Education Voters.
• Budget message from Thrive by Five Washington at Birth to Five Online.
• Legislative end-of-session message from children’s welfare advocacy organization, Children’s Alliance.

LOOKING AHEAD: NON-SESSION ITEMS

• Early Learning Plan, Phase II. The deadline for the completed Early Learning Plan (ELP) has been extended to September 1st (from March 30th). Currently, the ELP development is in Phase II and DEL is currently collecting input through an on-line survey on the draft ELP.

DEL, OSPI, and Thrive by Five Washington have been working collaboratively with hundreds of stakeholders to develop a 5- to 10-year plan to build a statewide early learning system.
Phase I of the ELP development concluded on 12/1/2009 when the draft ELP was shared with the Governor, Legislature, and public. The beginning of legislative session quickly followed and was clearly filled with debate on how to cope with our State’s $2.8 billion deficit resulting in a 30-day session extension which just concluded April 13th. Work on the ELP was largely put on hold during legislative session and meeting the March 30th deadline for a completed ELP became unachievable. Thus, the new deadline for the completed ELP is September 1st.  While this is an extension from the original due date of March 30th, the timeline is still tight.
To track progress on the ELP and learn how you can stay involved in Phase II, visit here.

• Updated STARS Registry Coming – System Currently Offline.  DEL is in the process of developing an updated online registry that holds records of trainings child care professionals have completed as well as information on approved trainers and training organizations.  As DEL works to create this updated system, they have made the decision to take the current system offline.  It is important to note that although the current system is offline, all training requirements remain in place. DEL has created a Frequently Asked Questions document to address how the process will work during this interim while the previous system is offline and the future system is in development.
• WaKIDS – Kindergarten Readiness Pilot.  Beginning in Fall 2010, a kindergarten readiness process will be piloted throughout the state in undetermined sites.  Named the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS), the project is under development jointly by DEL, OSPI, and Thrive by Five Washington with private funding provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to leverage the state dollars for this effort. The pilot will be designed in a culturally appropriate manner to assess kindergarten readiness to ensure a smooth transition to kindergarten. This assessment is intended to recognize that many people have a role in ensuring a child is ready for school and involves the input of parents, early learning providers and kindergarten teachers. 

DEL currently seeks your input on WaKIDS. To complete a DEL survey, click here.
Following the pilot, a report is due to the Legislature and Governor early in 2011 that will influence steps forward. Read more about the WaKIDS project here.
To stay abreast of DEL’s work on WaKIDS, sign up for DEL’s Key Communicators list here to receive email information.

• Early Learning Action Alliance (ELAA). ELAA, a statewide coalition of organizations advocating for early learning which is staffed by the Children’s Alliance will continue work through the interim by keeping abreast of advocacy opportunities, connecting and learning from local coalitions and programs, participating in policy planning efforts, and building a legislative agenda for the 2011 legislative session.

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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