Aid to state will help kids get a good start in education

This editorial appears in the Jan. 10, 2012, Yakima Herald-Republic.

Until last month, Washington state hadn't done too well in attracting Obama Administration money to reform education. The state had received no Race to the Top money, largely because we don't have charter schools, which voters repeatedly have rejected.

So it's no surprise Gov. Chris Gregoire popped the cork -- on sparkling cider -- when the state got word in mid-December that it landed a good chunk of federal funds for preschool education, a lot of which stands to make its way to the Yakima Valley. Washington is in line to get $60 million aimed at getting young children ready for kindergarten; ours is one of nine states to share more than $500 million.

This state had programs in place but needed money to better carry them out. One program measures how well-prepared children are for kindergarten, and the other provides a quality rating system for preschools with a goal of improving them.

These programs are an outgrowth of Gregoire's 2005 initiative called Washington Learns, which in 2006 led to the establishment of the Department of Early Learning. Money for the new department has come from the private nonprofit Thrive by Five Washington and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

So far, the programs serve just 800 children, but the federal money will help them take a giant step toward their goal of helping 70,000 young students by 2015. The programs will focus on children living in poverty, of which the Yakima Valley has an outsized percentage compared to the rest of the state. About 70 percent of the money will go toward rating and improving the quality of training for child-care providers; this will also build a database for child care in preschool programs statewide.

It no doubt helped that Sen. Patty Murray, herself a former preschool teacher, urged Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in May to devote Race to the Top funds for early learning. The announcement of the Early Learning Challenge came later that month.

This is a welcome contrast to the outcome of the summer of 2010 when state officials put in for the second round of Race to the Top grants. Washington rated 32nd of 36 because of the lack of charter schools and teacher-union resistance both to merit pay and a means of assessing teacher effectiveness.

There are no such issues with the early learning money, which stands to play a huge role in helping poor children get off to a strong academic start.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Sharon J. Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.