COVID-19 threatens ‘meager progress’ on state’s early childhood education

The new coronavirus pandemic is threatening the slow progress that Washington state has made in pre-kindergarten education for children in poverty and those with disabilities, a new report says.

Washington ranks 38th in the percentage of 4-year-olds in state-funded pre-K, according to a report by the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Budget cuts triggered by COVID-19 could prevent Washington from expanding the program and could roll back its “meager progress” in recent years, said Steven Barnett, senior co-director and founder of the institute, which is part of Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Barnett said Washington spent more this year on pre-K and enrolled more children, but spending per child did not keep pace with inflation. As a result, Washington likely is far from reaching all children in poverty, much less reaching children in middle-income families, he said.

Washington served 5 percent of 3-year-olds in state-funded pre-K, and 9 percent of 4-year-olds. However, the state ranked fourth nationally in state spending per child.

“We don’t serve enough kids; I totally agree,” Ross Hunter, secretary of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, said in an interview.

“We chose to prioritize quality over quantity. If you have a high-quality program, people want it and then I get a lot of political pressure to expand it,” he added.

Created in 1985, the program is designed to increase social-emotional, physical and pre-academic skills; ensure each child receives medical and dental screenings so he or she can fully focus on learning; and help families move toward self-sufficiency.

The state in 2010 established the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program as an entitlement for all eligible children by the 2018-2019 school year if they are not served by Head Start. That deadline recently was extended to 2022-2023.

Children are eligible for Washington’s state-funded pre-K program if they are in special education or from families at or below a percentage of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that is $26,200 or below.

The eligibility covers children in foster care and from families eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the federal program of cash assistance for the poor.

The state provides funding to serve about 14,000 children at 385 sites across the state.

Because of COVID-19, most sites are sending educational information and materials to families at their homes and distributing meal or food vouchers, according to the Department of Children, Youth and Families.

Stephanie Smith is owner of Learning to Grow, which has three child care centers in Elma that serve children in Grays Harbor and Thurston counties. The for-profit firm contracts with the state to provide child care, as well as the state-funded pre-K program for about 34 children.

With those children at home, one of the three teachers is using a YouTube channel to tell stories and teach lessons. The teachers also are using an app to communicate with parents and created a Facebook page in English and Spanish.

“We’re really trying to give parents ideas and strategies of how to work on skills with the children with stuff that they have at home,” Smith said.

But the lack of direct contact with the 3- and 4-year-olds during the pandemic is difficult for the teachers, she said.

“They know what their kids are not getting to do. They have such a desire to be able to provide more. There’s that overwhelming feeling of kids not being sent off to kindergarten ready,” she said.

Barnett, the senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, agrees.

“Technology is one important tool for early education, but computer programs are not a substitute for real pre-school, any more than the wooden puppet Pinocchio was a real boy.

“Young children learn best though hands-on activities engaged with adults and other children. We need to figure out how to make that happen even with remote pre-school and re-emphasize that when programs reopen their classrooms,” Barnett said.

Of the 10 standards that the National Institute for Early Education Research uses to measure quality in state-funded pre-K programs, Washington state met eight of them. Four states passed all of the benchmarks: Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, and Rhode Island.

Now that Washington has a quality program, it should pivot toward providing the funding so that more children can enroll, said state Rep. Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island.

“There is no arguing about that. We only invest about 1 percent of the state budget on early learning,” said Senn, chair of the House Human Services and Early Learning Committee. Early learning is a category that also includes subsidized child care.

Nationwide, even when the economy has been strong, progress providing pre-K has been slow and uneven nationwide, said Barnett, the co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research.

“With another recession likely, extraordinary state and federal action will be needed to ensure our youngest learners are not just protected, but better served,” he said.

Barnett remains hopeful that Congress, as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will provide funding to state governments so programs can grow instead of being cut.

Demand for state-funded pre-K is expected to increase because of higher unemployment and lower family income.

“There is not now a federal program that provides dedicated funding for state pre-K. There needs to be one,” he said, noting that support for pre-K programs is strong in both “red and blue” states.

If federal funding is not available, Hunter acknowledges that human services programs such as state-funded pre-K will be under “enormous pressure” if the Legislature has to make deep cuts because of COVID-19’s impact on state revenue.

“It’s about the choices that we as a society make. Where do we put our values? What is most important? For me, it is,`what investments can we make that provide all children with the opportunity to be successful in the world?’ “ he said.

Budget cuts should not be the option that legislators consider, said Robert Cruickshank, president of Washington’s Paramount Duty, a group which advocates for ample funding of public schools.

“The state will have to face this question: ‘Who pays for the coronavirus?’ The question that the Legislature and the governor will have to answer is, ‘is it kids? Is it teachers? Or is it big corporations and billionaires who pay for it?’ “

Cruickshank said approving a capital gains tax — a proposal floated in recent years but one that not gained enough votes in the Legislature — should be among the options considered.