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DCYF outlines 10‑year access and living‑wage plan, targets 7% family cost goal
Summary
DCYF presented an implementation plan for the Early Care and Education Access and Living Wage proviso, detailing four goals — family access, workforce living wages, data/system alignment and facilities — and said cost modeling will follow public feedback.
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families on the Provider Supports Subcommittee call presented an implementation plan to expand access to early care and education and to fund living wages and benefits for the workforce.
Diana Stokes, Early Care and Education Access Project Manager at DCYF, told providers the plan builds on prior legislation and sets four organizing goals: expand access to high‑quality, affordable care; support a thriving early‑care workforce through living wages and benefits; align data and administrative systems; and secure adequate facilities for system expansion.
"We are working towards how do we increase access to high quality and affordable, affordable meaning a sustainable amount for child care where families are paying no more than 7% of their household income," Stokes said, describing the plan’s family affordability target and its role as a multi‑year roadmap.
The plan, Stokes said, incorporates existing policy foundations such as the Fair Start for Kids Act (2021), past expansions of Working Connections Child Care, and the ECAP entitlement framework. DCYF said it will publish implementation strategies, timelines and cost modeling; the agency noted cost modeling will be provided in a more digestible format when available.
Key elements described: a child‑care guarantee for families who need and choose care; strategies to reduce application barriers and expand before/after‑school and nonstandard‑hours care; proposals to use the cost‑of‑quality rate model to set Working Connections rates and to pair a wage scale or wage floor with employer flexibility; and supports for inclusion of children with special needs, including potential special‑needs rate options pending legislative funding.
Stokes also said the plan includes programs to rebuild infant and early‑childhood mental‑health consultation and to expand community‑based professional development, scholarships and partnerships with the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges for stackable credentials.
Timing and reporting: DCYF said the implementation plan is intended as a phased, 10‑plus year roadmap. The agency will submit the plan to legislative staff in the coming weeks and provide biennial status updates every two years to show progress, investment changes and refinements during implementation.
Providers raised operational questions during the meeting, including how the plan will intersect with existing licensing rules (WAC), how school‑age programming would be handled under Early Achievers, and whether eligibility expansions for families with special needs would require additional legislative funding. Jason (subsidy staff) and Nicole (DCYF) explained that some eligibility expansions would require new appropriation and potential rule changes.
What’s next: DCYF will post cost modeling and draft recommendations for public review and continue outreach with advisory groups, county partners and unions as it moves from plan development into phased implementation.
