May 2007

Editor's Note
Happy Mother’s Day from the Legislature and Governor

by Wenda Reed

Mothers – and fathers and children – benefit from the generous, family-oriented 2007-09 state budget and from a slew of laws passed by the Democratic governor and legislature. They spent two-thirds of a heady state budget surplus and set aside a small “rainy day fund,” which will not support all of the programs if the economy turns sour.

For the next two years, and hopefully beyond, you will see a number of changes that will affect you as parents.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, Washington will join much of the industrialized world in providing up to five weeks of paid family leave for parents to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child. Initially, this will probably be capped at $250 a week, and the legislature has postponed finding a way to pay for it until next year.

If you make too much money to qualify for government health coverage for your children, but don’t get health coverage through work and can’t afford to buy it individually, your children will now qualify for one of the state-run policies. This year, the coverage expands to families who make 250 percent of the federal poverty level ($50,000 for a family of four) and in 2009 it rises to 300 percent of the poverty level ($62,000 for a family of four). An estimated 38,000 children will be ensured under this legislation, moving toward the laudable goal of health insurance for all Washington children by 2010.

The recent tragedy at Virginia Tech underscores the importance of mental health care for children and young people. If you have health insurance through a large company, a 2005 law ensured that mental illnesses are handled the same way as physical illnesses and paid at the same rate. This legislative session, the “parity” law is extended to small group plans and individual policies. In addition, a bill championed by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson expands mental health services for children, from early intervention through treatment and crisis intervention.

The governor’s passion for early learning translated into an investment in outreach to parents, an increase in the low wages for state-paid childcare providers, and an expansion of early reading programs. Research in 13 other states shows that parents can find higher quality child care if they can access a Quality Rating and Improvement System. The legislature set up a pilot program to do this and to support child care providers in improving their programs. We will also see an expansion of pre-kindergarten and all-day kindergarten programs and more preschool slots for low income children.

The investment in education extends to the K-12 level, with some crucial funding increases to keep class sizes down, to raise teachers’ pay, to reward outstanding teachers, and to provide tutoring and mentoring to students who struggle to meet academic standards.

The requirement that students pass the writing and reading portions of the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) was wisely maintained for the class of 2008. However, in the face of alarming failure rates, students will not have to pass the math portion in order to graduate until 2013. Hopefully, an investment in math and science education will result in common-sense revamping of the “new,” fuzzy, overly-verbal math, over the next six years.

Legislation also provided for: a November public vote on school levy rules; an examination of why more children of color enter and stay in the child welfare system; elimination of the co-pay for free school lunches for eligible children in grades K-3; phasing out of PBDE’s (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) flame retardants that can cause health problems; grants to help underserved students directly experience the natural world; preservation of the present intermediate driver’s license for teen drivers; and a requirement that schools that teach sex education must teach about contraception as well as abstinence.

Finally, a three-year campaign by students and teachers at Kirkland Junior High and Eatonville Middle School paid off: the Walla Walla sweet onion was named the state vegetable.

All in all, it was a great session for children and families.

©2007
Seattle's Child, a publication of the Washington Post Company
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