April 3, 2009

Contents
+ Quick Overview for Week
+ Early Learning Take-Aways for Week
+ Early Learning Budget Items
+ Bill and Committee Action for Week
+ Subscription Information

Quick Overview for Week

• The week was dominated by discussion on the Senate and House budget proposals. The Senate released its budget proposal on Monday (PSSB 5600) followed by the House release on Tuesday (PSHB 1244). Since the Governor released her budget proposal in December 2008, there are now three budget proposals on the table for consideration. However, the budget proposals from the legislature are difficult to compare apples to apples with the Governor’s budget proposal since revenue has plummeted an additional $2.9 billion since the Governor’s budget proposal was released in December 2008.
• Leadership from the three corners (Governor’s Office, Senate, and House) will negotiate differences and ultimately pass one budget in the form of a bill by the close of the session which is scheduled for April 26.
• The legislative fiscal committees heard testimony on the early learning portions of the budget proposals on Tuesday. See details below.
• Monday, March 30th was the cutoff for considering bills from the opposite House in policy committees. To see the entire session cutoff calendar, visit http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/calendar/cutoff.htm. For bills that received a public hearing and were then voted out of the assigned policy committees, the next step in order to continue progressing through the legislative process is (a) full chamber debate and vote, or (b) being heard and voted out of a fiscal committee. Bills must be voted out of the assigned fiscal committee by April 6th. The exceptions to session cutoffs are “NTIB” bills, or necessary to implement budget bills which can be revived at any time during session.

Early Learning Take-Aways for Week

• Determining where to allocate the early learning dollars contained in the federal stimulus package is a big question that remains to be answered.  The House and Senate chose different items to dedicate federal stimulus quality dollars into with the Senate choosing the voluntary child care quality and improvement rating system (QRIS) and the House choosing the Career and Wage Ladder program which provides financial incentives for child care teachers to further their education and professional development.  This difference in budget proposals flags that the conversation about where to dedicate these dollars is still playing out, thus it is a crucial time to contact your legislators to advocate for the early learning items you care about most. In addition to determining how federal stimulus dollars will be used to soften the blow to budget cuts to early learning programs and services, the legislature must also balance how much discretion in guiding the federal dollars to give the incoming Department of Early Learning (DEL) Director, Dr. Bette Hyde. Since there are not enough federal stimulus dollars to support everything on the table for early learning, the legislature will have to exercise much restraint in what they elect to fund and still have remaining dollars for incoming Director Hyde to allocate.
• All of the Early Learning Action Alliance priorities are reflected in at least one budget proposals under consideration, except core funding for the Washington State Child Care Resource & Referral Network’s (R&R) core services. This means a 41% loss to the core services the R&R funds, which translates into: decreased availability of phone service at a time when parents are seeking advice on flexible child care options while suffering from unemployment or decreased household income; decreased ability to assist the Department of Early Learning licensors; and the elimination of on-site consultation for child care businesses.  The Early Learning Action Alliance (ELAA), staffed by Children’s Alliance, has developed recommendations for use of the stimulus dollars and ELAA members have been actively advocating for adoption of these priorities  ELAA is a growing coalition of organizations representing a diverse array of nonprofits, professionals associations, businesses and industries united to ensure that all children have the opportunities and support they need in their first five years to be prepared for school and a bright future.
• The Senate budget proposes a reduction of 40 full time employees (FTEs) from DEL. This would be a staff reduction of 20% which is very significant. A loss of 40 FTEs at DEL would jeopardize the integrity of the early learning framework we have just recently invested in. DEL was created by Governor Gregoire in July 2006 with intentions to (1) increase efficiency by consolidating early learning program and services, and (2) commit to preparing children for success in school in life. 
• This is a very important time to contact your elected official, the Governor, and the Chairs of the fiscal committees to express your support on the early learning items you care about most.  Specific legislative e-mail contact information can be found at www.leg.wa.gov. 
• A consumer safety bill, HB 1180 concerning the ban of bisphenol or BPA in baby bottles, has been stalled and appears dead. The bill would have made Washington the first state to ban BPA in bottles and other food and drink containers made for children age three and younger. While the bill cleared the House by a 76-21 vote, the bill’s prime sponsor Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson has indicated it will not clear the Senate. Rep. Dickerson has been a champion for children’s product safety.

Early Learning Budget Items
Following is a comparison of the amounts needed to preserve current investment in various early learning initiatives and the Senate and House proposals. The information was taken and adapted from a memo provided by Children’s Alliance.

*ARRA – American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
As mentioned in the “Early Learning Take-Aways for the Week” section above, aside from ECEAP, Career and Wage Ladder, and the QRIS, neither the Senate nor House Budget programmed the full amount of child care funding included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  With the new Department of Early Learning (DEL) Director Dr. Bette Hyde slated to assume her role on April 15, there was a feeling among budget makers to provide DEL with a level of discretion as to their use. 

Budget Overview
To fill the $9 billion revenue shortfall, the Senate budget proposed $3.8 billion in cuts, use of $3 billion in federal stimulus dollars, use of state reserves, and accounts for cuts made previously by legislators. The $9 billion shortfall represents the gap in what the state anticipates collecting in tax revenue and the cost of maintaining state operations at the current spending levels.
Similar to the Senate budget proposal, the House’s proposal taps $3 billion in federal stimulus dollars in an attempt to soften the deep and painful cuts.
In a press conference, House Ways and Means Chair Kelli Linville indicated that in the months since the Governor released her budget proposal in December 2008 revenues have dropped further so the House had to cut $1.60 dollars for every $1 in cuts the Governor’s budget proposed after federal stimulus dollars were accounted for. In this way, it is easier to compare the House and Senate budgets to one another than with the Governor’s budget.
In addition, the infusion of federal stimulus dollars creates added complexity as budget writers and fiscal leadership is still working to understand how this money can be used. After the technical issues are worked out, there many philosophical debates around where the dollars should be used that remain to be resolved. This is by far the most challenging budget situation the legislature has had to deal with in recent history.
The legislature is expected to consider sending a tax package to voters and let them decide what specific programs, such as education and health care programs, should be preserved through revenue from increased taxes. The passage of I-960 requires that taxpayers approve such increases. 
This week, Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles introduced a bill to impose a 1 percent income tax on individuals earning more than $500,000 a year.  In response, Governor Gregoire reiterated her opposition to a state income tax, noting this proposal would likely create constitutional and legal challenges.  She also noted that the time it would take to implement would mean that the revenue would not be available to address the current economic shortfall.
In a blog post this week, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, an economist by training, also explored the issue of a personal income tax:  http://blog.senatedemocrats.wa.gov/brown/yes-this-post-is-about-taxes-part-one/.

Bill and Committee Action for Week
On Monday, March 30th the Senate Early Learning and K12 Committee voted on ESB 2261, an education reform bill we have reported on in depth throughout session.  The Committee voted in favor of the bill. The bill now awaits action in the Senate Ways and Means Committee by the April 6th cutoff.
Both education reform bills, ESB 2261 and ESB 6048, are continuing to progress through the legislative process with ESB 2261 under consideration in the Senate and ESB 6048 under consideration in the House. The parallel advancement of both bills indicates the policy and funding debates on education reform are still very robust.
This legislative session like the previous two, there has been an infusion of compelling brain and economic research that effectively makes the case that investments in high-quality early learning programs have incredible pay-offs for children, families, communities, and our society as a whole. Thus, starting from the assumption that legislators agree such investments like voluntary full-day kindergarten and early learning programs for vulnerable children are important, there are a couple layers of debate happening around whether education reform is an opportunity to safeguard early learning investments through incorporating early learning programs in the definition of basic education.
From a very high-level perspective, the early learning portion of the education reform discussion can be summarized as the House has one vision, while the Senate has a slightly different one. As the bills, ESB 2261 and ESB 6048, progress through steps in the House and Senate, each chamber adapts the early learning components in ways that are consistent with their vision.
In general, action in the House indicates there is support for including voluntary all-day kindergarten in the definition of basic education and showing strong intent to incorporate a program of early learning for vulnerable children in the definition of basic education. Again, in broad strokes, the Senate’s activity suggests that there is not as strong support for either early learning item being funded before the current programs of basic education can be fully funded. Thus, there is a philosophical debate around what should be funded first and at what funding level.
Another layer of debate is the prominent opposition from the Washington Education Association, the state’s leading teachers’ union, on funding any additional programs of basic education before the existing obligations are fully funded. Additionally, in a recent letter to House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, the Governor expressed opposition to including early learning in the definition of basic education. (See the Economic Policy Institute’s response to the Governor’s letter at: http://washingtonpolicywatch.org/2009/03/27/governor-gregoire-parents-should-pay-for-basic-educatio/.) The recent and painful proposed cuts to education punctuate this opposition. This must be balanced with arguments from proponents of more prominently protecting early learning programs that meaningful outcomes for young children, communities, and society will occur when there are more proportionate and dedicated investments.
On Tuesday, March 31st the Ways and Means Committee in the Senate and House heard public testimony on the early learning portions of the Senate and House budget proposals.  Early learning advocates thanked legislators for including key early learning provisions in this challenging budget year, but also brought attention to critical unmet needs such as core child care resource and referral services.
Today, a public hearing on HB 1329 concerning collective bargaining for child care center directors and workers is scheduled in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Subscription Info
This weekly legislative update is brought to you by the United Ways of Washington in partnership with the Washington State Child Care Resource and Referral Network. Please forward this legislative update to your early learning network. To subscribe, contact Erica Hallock at erica.hallock@unitedway.org.