Washington State Legislators Find Common Ground on Early Childhood Issues

When an unexpected voice speaks up in a discussion, people pay attention. That’s what happened in Washington state when the latest brain science helped legislators enact policies that support healthy early childhood development. In 2006, the input of scientists, economists, and private industry representatives inspired nearly unparalleled bipartisan support for the formation of a Department of Early Learning, a new cabinet-level department formed in February, after Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the bill, HB2964.

By consolidating early developmental programs previously administered by three separate agencies under the new Department of Early Learning, the legislation reduced bureaucracy while providing universal preschool for all children in Washington. It also established a ground-breaking public-private partnership and placed early childhood development squarely in the center of public attention. Although the legislation had languished for several years, deadlocked by political disagreement, several factors came together to forge consensus and make the new department a reality.

Breakthroughs in Science and Policy

Perhaps even more than ordinary citizens, legislators are constantly bombarded with information. Most of them lack the time to sort through mountains of evidence and opinion on every issue. In this case, however, the science came to the legislators.

And the science overwhelmingly linked early development—long before children reach school age—to later social and academic outcomes. In August 2005, the National Conference of State Legislatures sponsored a seminar on “Breakthroughs in Early Learning: Advances in Science, Economics, and State Policy” in Seattle as a precursor to its annual meeting.

Legislators from Washington and other states heard about the latest research on early child development from Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., chair of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, as well as Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Melzoff, researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. Shonkoff, who is the Julius B. Richmond FAMRI Professor of Child Health and Development at Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Graduate School of Education, later presented the scientific research before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, after which the bill (previously rejected by the Senate) passed by a vote of 47-2.

The research demonstrated that children’s early experiences strongly influence their later learning and development. “The early years of life matter because early experiences affect the architecture of the maturing brain,” said Shonkoff, who is also Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston. “As it emerges, the quality of that architecture establishes either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for all the development and behavior that follow. Getting it right the first time is easier than trying to fix it later.”

Washington state Representative Ruth Kagi, one of the bill’s sponsors, was key in bringing scientists to the table. Reflecting on the impact of the seminar on later support for the bill, she commented, “The scientific link between early development and the number of kids not succeeding in our K-12 school system was very clear. Seeing that direct linkage has helped a lot of legislators get on board with developing birth-to-5 policy.”


The Economic Case for Early Investment

Brain science is not the only discipline calling attention to the necessity and wisdom of ensuring healthy early development. Also present at the “Breakthroughs in Early Learning Seminar” was Art Rolnick, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Rolnick and other economists have become vocal proponents of early childhood intervention as a sound public investment strategy. Their own research, bolstered by the neuroscientific principle that early brain development is the foundation for later brain development, demonstrates that targeted early interventions for vulnerable children yield higher rates of return than other public investments. This also resonated with legislators, conscious of the budgetary bottom line.

One such partner was state Representative Gigi Talcott, who had been opposed to the legislation prior to the “Breakthroughs in Early Learning” seminar. With a background in early childhood development, however, Talcott found the scientific arguments compelling, and quickly threw her support behind the legislation when it was formally introduced several months later. “With my educational background, clearly this is where my heart lies—in early education—and the science speaks to me. … And when I read the bill and saw that it was going to include a research-based public-private partnership, it was something that I could support enthusiastically.”

As science continues, at a breathtaking pace, to uncover new facts about the importance of developing early brain architecture, scientific research will play an even larger part in informing political decision making. According to Steffanie Clothier, Program Director of the Child Care and Early Education Project for the National Conference of State Legislatures, “Legislatures face a real information challenge because they are constantly bombarded with so much data and information, and sorting through that information is something they have to do every day. There’s a very important role for science to play, especially around early childhood, in helping legislators prioritize their decisions. If you provide them with science, they can then use it in all of the policy contexts they can identify as relevant. It helps them evaluate policies and make good decisions based on what’s best for children in ways that other kinds of service data just can’t accomplish.”

-- Marcy Ray