The department also recommends eliminating the Birth to Three program, which provides child care and early education for infants and toddlers from low-income families, according to the department’s proposal.
Limiting early-education services “creates this disparity in education, which leads to lower economic prospects later in life and really perpetuates a lack of social mobility for their families across generations,” said Nancy Trevena, Educational Opportunities for Children and Families’ chief strategy officer.
Educational Opportunities for Children and Families meets the needs of only 25 percent of children in the community — 90 percent of whom come from low-income families, said Christina Monks, the agency’s chief innovation officer.
About 11 percent of the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program students statewide come from families who have experienced homelessness, and 68 percent are Black, Indigenous or people of color.
The organization offers health screenings, safety guides and mental health support, as well as child care. It is the second-largest nonprofit in Clark County and operates more than 30 early-learning schools serving mostly Clark County, Long Beach and Woodland.
Early education
Last year, 17 percent of children served by Educational Opportunities for Children and Families had an Individual Education Plan, meaning they qualified for special education services. Most children enrolled in an Educational Opportunities for Children and Families school no longer need the plan once they move into kindergarten and first grade, saving the school system money on special education services in the long run, Trevena said.
Tristan Beever is an example of this. When he was 2, he was diagnosed with a speech delay. He was nonverbal and not potty trained, said Tristan’s mother, Maura Baker.
She serves as a community representative on Educational Opportunities for Children and Families’ policy council and Policy Council Community and as advocacy coordinator for the Washington State Association of Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program.
Baker said it was hard to find child care for Tristan — until she and her husband came across Educational Opportunities for Children and Families and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. They enrolled Tristan, and he received an Individual Education Plan in 2021.
“When he was talking to me and telling me about his day, things just changed,” Baker said. “We were able to communicate with him, my husband and I, behaviors got better at home, and then he continued with EOCF into his second year.”
This year, Tristan has met all of his Individual Education Plan goals and graduated from speech therapy as a first grader.
“I honestly, truly believe that if he wasn’t in ECEAP, if he wasn’t in EOCF, he would still be in speech therapy,” Baker said. “His language wouldn’t be as strong as it is today, and he would still be on an IEP for the next couple of years.”
