Other Papers Say: Budget about more than numbers

The following editorial originally appeared in The Seattle Times:

Staring down a $12 billion shortfall to pay for state programs would be daunting for anyone, and Gov. Bob Ferguson can be commended for proposing cuts with scalpel in hand, rather than a chain saw.

Lawmakers who are actually writing the budget should think carefully about the long-term costs, especially for programs that have a substantial upside in future savings, like early learning for low-income children. Additionally, they should review their last session decisions. Lawmakers overspent and deliberately ignored flagging revenue forecasts. Though revenues are greater than last year, too many programs like these are on the chopping block because of irresponsible budgeting.

It didn’t have to be this way. Here’s a valuable program at stake. Washington spends about $9 million per biennium on 260 kids, from birth to age 3, whose families earn less than half the state’s median income. The program is pricey because, in addition to preparing children for school, it provides their moms and dads with case management to secure permanent housing, family nutrition and other services.

That’s important since about 20 percent of babies and toddlers in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program are being raised by parents who lack high school diplomas. More than a few are incarcerated. Both challenges put a child at higher risk for removal into foster care — which is even more expensive.

The ECEAP model has been shown to decrease the risk of child welfare involvement. Yet it is about to be eliminated.

Balancing the needs of these families with billion-dollar abstractions is the difficult work of legislators. So, the experience of Cierra Ozolin is essential to consider.

Ozolin had fled domestic violence, lost her job and was on the verge of dropping out of school when she enrolled her baby daughter in an early ECEAP program in Tacoma five years ago. The staff refused to let Ozolin give up on herself, she testified last month. Five years later, Ozolin is a licensed social worker with permanent housing and a job. Her daughter, now 5, is ready to thrive in kindergarten.

“Today my life is completely different because of early ECEAP,” she said. “We needed more than just child care.”

The Ozolins might have landed in a very different, and very costly, place. Also expensive? Kids with behavior or learning problems who’ve grown up around trauma.

“This is your prime example of ‘pay now or pay a lot more later on,’ ” said Joel Ryan, executive director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP.

Legislators must keep their eyes on the state’s immediate budget crunch without forgetting about the not-too-distant horizon. When Washington’s fiscal outlook improves, interventions like early ECEAP should be high on the list of programs to restore.