Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, joined a panel of experts last night on Spokane Public Television to discuss the importance of investing in early learning programs. The dialogue was part of an hour long special titled “Raising America.”
“The top priority for all of us working on early learning is to expand access to high-quality early learning opportunities for all children throughout Washington state,” said Billig during the program.
In recent years, numerous academic reports have acknowledged the impact early learning can have on a child’s long term development. In fact, it has been demonstrated repeatedly that investment in early learning can reduce the learning achievement gap which is one of the most pressing challenges the public education system faces.
“I want to make sure that we don’t just have a K-12 funding plan but a comprehensive funding plan that invests in early learning and higher education so that we know we are getting the best return on our investment,” said Billig.
Billig co-chaired the Child Care Improvements Task Force which worked to integrate the state’s child care and preschool programs to better serve families with a high-quality full-day learning experience. Recommendations from that task force have been incorporated into legislation to further improve the quality of early learning programs in our state.
“Child care and pre-school used to be seen as two separate programs. Now, we know it makes more sense to view these two programs together. We can best achieve our goal of helping every child arrive at kindergarten ready to learn by combining child care and preschool into a full-day experience,” said Billig.
Billig was joined on the panel by Dr. Bette Hyde, director of the Washington State Department of Early Learning; Lee Williams, director of Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington; and Dr. Vincent Alfonso, dean of Gonzaga University’s School of Education.
The full program is available online and can be accessed by clicking the following link: http://video.ksps.org/video/2365364962/
