A crowd of children and parents gathered to
honor state leaders from western Washington on Saturday, August 14th at
the first of three Early Learning Action Alliance (ELAA) Crayon Award events organized by the Children’s Alliance.

State legislators were honored for their outstanding work in early
learning during the 2010 legislative session during a stage event emceed
by Representative Eric Pettigrew (37th District) at the Early Learning
Community Fair in Seattle. At the event, six state legislators joined
community members and early learning stakeholders from across the Puget
Sound region to celebrate the importance of early learning in the lives
of Washington’s children and families and to pledge further support of
early learning in the year ahead.

While there was a fair amount of media coverage about the reduction in state child care assistance announced last week, there was less attention to the single largest category of that $51 million budget cut: the loss of financial assistance for low-income parents.

It was a beautiful day to eat lunch in Seattle’s Pratt Park last Wednesday where children from the community gather for free lunch during the summer. The day was made even more special because we planned a visit by Congressman Jim McDermott (WA-7) to hand out lunches and talk with the folks who use this incredible program.

“Do you want some milk?” The Congressman asked one of the almost 25 kids who picked up their lunch. Many families use this program to supplement the food they provide at home. That’s why summer meal programs are so important – they reach children whose families are struggling to find room in tight budgets to replace meals kids receive at school during the school year.

“Eating healthy meals is absolutely an essential part of child development. This program fills a huge gap,” said Congressman McDermott.

Does a procedural vote gaining super hero status sound strange? It probably does, but an important amendment proposed by our very own Senator Patty Murray, with support from Senator Maria Cantwell, has saved the day. The amendment passed the Senate in a procedural vote on Wednesday morning. It passed out of the Senate this morning and now goes to the House. If passed in the House, it will prevent Governor Christine Gregoire from making across the board cuts to critical services.

The federal funding in the amendment (also called FMAP) gives states money to help pay for their Medicaid programs, which funds, in part, Apple Health for Kids. It also provides money for public schools. For Washington state, the measure is expected to bring in $543 million.