State-funded pre-k program grows by 2,500 slots ahead of new school year

Washington’s state-funded pre-K program is set to expand by an additional 2,500 slots for the upcoming school year.

The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program currently serves 14,000 families across 463 locations. The 2,500 new slots will be spread out across 54 of those locations in the 2026-27 school year, the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families announced in a news release. Exactly where these locations are has yet to be announced.

The program is designed for kids ages 3 to 4 and is completely free for eligible families.

On a national level, 37% of 4-year-olds are enrolled in a state-funded preschool program. But in Washington, that number is about half at just 19%, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research.

In 2025, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program lost about $60 million in funding after state legislators started scrambling in the midst of a budget shortfall. This year, the Transition to Kindergarten program shrank by about 2,000 slots.

Right around that time, the Ballmer Group decided to step up.

Last November, Gov. Bob Ferguson, Secretary of the Department of Children, Youth and Families Tana Senn and representatives from the Ballmer Group announced a new grant to expand the program by as many as 10,000 additional seats over the next 10 years. The 2,500 new slots are just the first installment.

The Ballmer Group is a philanthropic organization based in Bellevue that aims to “improve economic mobility for children and families in the United States,” according to their website.

“We are wasting no time putting the Ballmer Group’s incredible gift to Washington families to work,” Ferguson said at a November news conference. “We’re facing significant budget challenges in our state, compounded by billions of dollars in cuts from the federal government. This innovative public-private partnership is one way we are supporting families and our youngest learners.”

For the past 21 years, Rebecca Lee has owned three Green Gable Children’s Learning Centers in Spokane. She said it’s crucial that children have positive and high-quality early learning experiences so that they’re prepared for elementary school and beyond.

She said it’s inspiring to see the state and the Ballmer Group are taking an interest in early childhood education. Over the next 10 years, the Ballmer Group has agreed to award over $1 billion to support early learning opportunities, with $40.6 million being set aside for next year.

Christina Weiland, a professor of education and social policy at the Marsal Family School of Education at the University of Michigan, said a high-quality preschool education does much more than just prepare a child for elementary school.

She said it puts a child on a path to higher earnings in adulthood, higher rates of college attendance, higher rates of high school graduation and even better health.

But what exactly does a high-quality preschool education mean?

“You want to make sure that you have a teacher who is well-qualified, and generally we encourage a bachelor’s degree minimum,” Weiland said. “Along with specialized training, specifically in early childhood. The teacher also needs professional learning on the job, ideally in-classroom coaching from an expert mentor a couple times a month. The kind of curriculum used matters too.”

In addition, Weiland said a high-quality education also has a ratio of one teacher for every 10 students, appropriate time for playing outside, access to healthy and filling meals, and special support for children affected by developmental issues.

She said the 2,500 slots next year will “make a dent,” and she’s excited to see what the future holds when it comes to expanding high-quality preschool education in Washington.

“I think the need is going to continue to increase,” Weiland said. “In Washington state, there are a lot of kids who are kind of falling in the gap, meaning they don’t qualify for ECEAP or for Head Start previous to the Ballmer investment, but their parents didn’t actually have enough money to afford preschool. There are a lot of kids from low-income families and even middle-income families who are left out of those programs, and then they don’t have the same kind of opportunity that their peers have.”

Years later, these educational gaps materialize during high school in the form of differences between math and reading skills, she said.

A study out of MIT that examined 4,000 children in public preschools in Boston from 1997 to 2003 found that a person who attended preschool is about 18% more likely to go to college right out of high school compared with those who did not attend preschool.

“We find that 4-year-olds who were randomly allocated a seat in a public Boston preschool during this time period, 1997 to 2003, are more likely to attend college, and that it’s a pretty large effect,” said Parag Pathak, a professor in MIT’s Department of Economics and co-author of the study. “They’re also more likely to graduate from high school, and they’re more likely to take the SAT.”

Back in Spokane, Lee said she sees the impact of a high-quality preschool education every single day.

“When you see a child make a connection, for me, personally there’s nothing more gratifying,” she said.

Lee said something the ECEAP program does that many people may not realize is provide health screening, vision screening and ensure that kids have their required immunizations.

“We see a lot of wheels spinning, and it’s just amazing how smart children are,” Lee said. “Their first teacher is their parents. We love to work alongside them and support children in their growth and development.”