Op-Ed: Make infants and toddlers a priority in the state budget

By Joe Cunningham

The budget negotiations in the Washington State Legislature are stalled over a basic disagreement about revenue needed to fund budget priorities. Unfortunately, many vital programs hang in the balance while the debate continues.

To date, the number of infants and toddlers with developmental delays and disabilities has increased 58% since 2006 while funding for early intervention services has increased only 18% during that same time period. Studies show that these critical services are cost effective and actually save taxpayers money--over a third of the children that access early intervention therapies before age 3 reach their developmental milestones and no longer need ongoing support later in school. That’s an amazing return on investment by any standard!

Increased funding for this program to keep pace with the increase in children utilizing the services was in the Governor’s and House budgets but not ultimately included in the Senate budget. This comes at a time when Washington State just slipped from 38th in the nation to 45th in providing fiscal effort for people with developmental disabilities. We need to do better!

It is human to hope, when times are lean, that we can meet the needs of our state without additional revenue. But these are not lean times--Washington State has rebounded exponentially from the dark days of 2008, yet more and more children need help. Please don’t leave infants and toddlers behind in the final budget negotiations.

Joe Cunningham, Briarcrest resident, and Coordinator of King County Family Coalition of Arc of King County, and Co-Chair, Children’s Campaign Fund