Sandra Sanchez, Jennifer Wells and Andrea Paluso: Don’t balance the state budget by cutting child care

Child care and early learning keeps society running, even if it does not show up on blueprints. Without child care providers educating and taking care of kids, daily life would stop.

Right now, Washington ranks among the priciest states in the nation for child care. It’s more expensive for a Washingtonian to put their infant in child care for a year ($14,400 to $30,000) than to pay a year’s worth of tuition at the University of Washington ($13,406). These figures mirror what we’re seeing in Spokane County, where the median monthly cost to send an infant to child care is $1,600 (24% of a family’s income). Families can’t afford to pay more, and providers can’t afford to make less.

Even so, the governor’s proposed supplemental budget cuts child care programs by $322 million. This is on top of the more than $1 billion in cuts made last year, further devastating an already strained system and raising barriers to access for families in Washington already making impossible choices. Though child care takes up only a small fraction of state expenses, it accounts for 40% of the total proposed budget cuts this year. This is unacceptable. And recently, the Legislature proposed cutting more than $30 million more from Early Support for Infants & Toddlers – the program that helps the youngest children with disabilities learn things like how to walk, talk and eat.

If this moves forward, up to 16,000 families statewide could lose access to child care or any realistic path to qualifying for a state subsidy. In addition, ESIT services for over 3,000 children with developmental delays and disabilities will be impacted. When early learning funding disappears, routines for children are disrupted, teachers leave the field, and educational environments that children and families rely on for safety and growth vanish overnight. These policy decisions ripple through children’s lives in ways that do not show up on a budget spreadsheet, but shape their development for years, and have long-term impacts on the prosperity and well-being of our community.

Working families across central and Eastern Washington will face the brunt of these reductions. Jobs in these regions often pay little, come in seasonal bursts, or depend on workers’ ability to make hourly shifts – all tied closely to access to child care. Provedoras Unidas de Central Washington, representing more than 200 Latina child care providers in Yakima and Franklin counties, report that families are making the difficult decision to remove their children from quality child care programs because of rising care costs. When quality child care disappears, so does the chance to earn a living, leaving households stretched thin, sometimes surviving paycheck to paycheck.

We know a different way is possible. In 2025, New Mexico launched the nation’s first statewide universal child care system. Meanwhile, Vermont moved boldly ahead when that state passed a 2023 law funding broader access to child care by increasing revenue. New York is also moving forward with a statewide plan for universal child care.

According to a poll in 2024, 87% of Washington voters rank child care as a top priority. On Feb. 12, almost 500 parents, caregivers and early learning providers showed up to the steps of the state Capitol as a part of WSA Head Start and ECEAP Advocacy Day. They demanded the Legislature reject the governor’s proposed cuts to Working Connections Child Care, as it is an essential support that allows families to work and children to thrive.

With the state revenue forecast coming in higher than expected, we urge the Legislature to avoid these cuts. This is a request that we are not making in a silo. Standing in solidarity with us are a coalition of national and state child care organizations: MomsRising, Caring Across Generations, Save the Children Action Network, Children’s Alliance, Washington Family Engagement, Kindering, Balance Our Tax Code, Washington Youth Alliance Action Fund, SEIU Local 925, Washington State Association for Head Start and ECEAP, Washington’s Association for the Education of Young Children, Chelsea Dimas (commissioner, Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs), and Children’s Campaign Fund Action.

Early learning advocates across the country are watching what Washington state does next. Will legislators stand up for working families and reject the governor’s proposal? Or will Washington balance its budget on the backs of those whose future matters the most: children.

This decision will echo in classrooms, workplaces and homes long after debate ends and lawmakers return back to their districts.

Sandra Sanchez, of Pasco, is president of Provedoras Unidas de Central Washington. Jennifer Wells, of Montgomery, Alabama, is director of care economy at Community Change Action. Andrea Paluso, of Portland, is co-director of the Child Care for Every Family Network