She sounded almost giddy on Friday relaying the news that Washington state has won $60 million from the federal government to expand its efforts to help children get better prepared for kindergarten.
“It’s just a grand day for our little learners and for the people of our state,” the governor said.
Washington is one of nine states to win a share of more than $500 million in new federal dollars for early learning initiatives. The other winners – chosen from 37 applicants – are California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island.
The goal of the competition is to get more high-needs children from birth to age 5 more ready for kindergarten.
Washington state officials plan to use the money to expand two programs. One measures how ready kids are for kindergarten. The other works to improve preschools through a quality rating system. Some of the money would also pay for scholarships to send child care workers to college.
“We’ve been working hard, but we ran aground recently. We have everything in place but no money to do it,” Gregoire said.
With the federal dollars and a close partnership with nonprofits Thrive by Five Washington and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, plus the University of Washington, the governor believes the state has everything it needs to set an example for the rest of the country.
She brought a couple of bottles of sparkling cider over to the Department of Early Learning on Friday and celebrated with the staff and Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn.
Gregoire says one thing is clear to everyone involved in education: “If we can get these little people ready for kindergarten, we will give them a rocket boost …. Failing in that regard, it’s an uphill battle.”
Sen. Patty Murray, who has encouraged the Obama administration to put more money into preschool education, couldn’t agree more.
“As a former preschool teacher, I’ve seen first-hand how investments in early learning programs pay off for our children. And I know that students who have access to high-quality early childhood education are more prepared for elementary school and have a better shot at getting their educational career started on the right track,” said the Washington Democrat in a written statement.
Murray spoke to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in early May to push him to use a significant amount of Race to the Top dollars for early learning. Duncan announced the $500 million Early Learning Challenge that month.
This month, Murray called Duncan to personally lay out the strengths of Washington state’s application, her office said.
Washington won no money in the earlier rounds of Race to the Top, which was focused on K-12 education.
But the state failed to pass a key benchmark the federal government used in determining the winners of those competitions. Washington does not allow charter public schools, and for the most part, the winners all do.
This time around, Washington didn’t have any trouble qualifying for the federal money, but that doesn’t mean the competition wasn’t tough. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico entered the competition.
