By Lance Morehouse / Herald Forum
I am writing this article because of a threat to infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and delays from a bill in our state Legislature.
In Washington state, we receive federal funds to provide services to infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and delays. With the receipt of these federal funds, we agree to provide services to infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities and delays age from birth to age 3.
Research has shown that intervening early with these children makes a huge difference in their independence and quality of life in the future; 85 percent of brain development in children happens within the first three years. Statewide, the Department of Children, Youth and Families report that 39 percent of infants and toddlers who exit early support services reach their developmental milestones and are not eligible for special education services in our public schools. This is amazing for these children and it also saves tens of millions of dollars in special education funding each year.
Current evidence suggests that each additional dollar invested in quality early childhood programs yields a return of between $6 and $17. This evidence is well summarized by James Heckman, a Nobel Laurate in Economics (see heckmanequation.org). The only bigger return on investment is to provide services directly to mom prenatally.
This means that reductions to services for infants and toddlers will result in exponential increased costs in other areas of education, state government and society.
House Bill 2688 is now working its way through our state Legislature and proposes to delink a long-standing special education multiplier and reduce state funding for early support services by 17 percent. This proposal will cause real harm to infants and toddlers and their families and will ultimately cost the state even more. When services decline, it is the kids who will pay the price.
Our state receives $15 million in federal funds to serve this population and there are maintenance of effort requirements on the amount states spend on these services. The reduction proposed in this bill also puts those federal funds at risk.
I understand that we are facing a difficult budget situation in Washington state and the Legislature and governor are looking for reductions to bridge the budget gap. While there may not be many good options, cutting a system providing life changing services that help children reach their potential and saves the state millions of dollars does not make good budget sense. Please help us convince our elected officials that HB 2688 or reductions to services to infants and toddlers is not the way to balance our state budget!
Lance Morehouse is CEO of Sherwood Community Services in Lake Stevens.
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