Early Start Act, sponsored by Rep. Ruth Kagi, passed by the state legislature

Litzow and Kagi as Early Start Act passes

Tuesday, the legislature passed landmark legislation to get children to school ready to succeed. The Early Start Act, sponsored by Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-32 and Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, sets quality standards for early learning, and provides support to early learning educators in childcare and preschool settings across the state.

“Half of Washington’s children show up to kindergarten unprepared. They are behind before they get to the kindergarten door, and most never catch up,” said Kagi, who serves as chair of the House Early Learning and Human Services Committee. 

“Reaching children early in their lives through quality early learning has a profound impact on their future chances of success. If we want to build a better world for our children, and to close the opportunity gap, we need to invest in early learning and give every child the chance to succeed.”

"High quality early learning is a proven means to give all children the foundation they need to be successful in school and compete in a 21st century job market and economy,” said Litzow, who serves as chair of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee. “As we make unprecedented investments in our education system as a whole – from early learning through higher education – success in early ages translates to success later on. Students who arrive in kindergarten ready to learn have more success throughout school and in life.”

The Early Start Act puts the state’s quality rating and improvement system, Early Achievers, into law. The Early Achievers program implements quality standards and takes other steps to improve educational outcomes for our youngest learners. The program supports professional development and education for providers, and provides coaching to early learning educators. For the first time, parents will be able to get reliable information on the quality of early learning programs in their community.

Early Start will give more young children the opportunity to access the effective, high quality programs and policies that have made Washington state a nationally recognized leader in early learning. The Early Start Act programs and policies are guided by proven brain science and the positive long-term impact quality early learning has on a child’s school readiness, overall health and life.

A new two-year operating budget, which was passed Monday evening invests an additional $159 million in early learning and care, the largest in in state history, which includes an additional 1,600 slots in the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program and funding to implement the Early Start Act.