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San Juan County expands ECAP slots while grappling with state funding cuts
Summary
San Juan County’s early‑learning team reported local ECAP expansion and improved kindergarten readiness, but said a sudden cut to complex‑needs funding and statewide slot reductions are straining services and mental‑health supports for children and families.
San Juan County’s health and early‑learning staff told the Board of Health on Sept. 17 that local expansions in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECAP) have increased preschool access on San Juan Island, but recent state and program funding cuts have reduced critical mental‑health services.
Ethna Flanagan, who leads the county’s early‑learning team, said ECAP helped stabilize programs during the pandemic, provided classroom and playground upgrades, and coordinated health screenings and immunization catch‑ups with public‑health nurses. "We ended up with 100 percent of our students [linked] to a medical home, 99 percent to a dental home and 97 percent up to date on well child exams," Flanagan said, adding that only 78 percent were fully immunized.
Dr. Becky Bell, who oversaw expansion on San Juan Island, described how partners converted an unused Head Start building into a full‑day early‑learning center and moved from a small part‑day pilot to serving 12 students full time, with capacity to expand to 15 depending on staffing and funding. The program drew on a mix of district collaboration, a Stalker Foundation grant and local donors.
But program leaders warned of a sharp hit to supports for children with complex needs. "In June ... that funding was dropped for us. We lost $145,000 of that, and so we had to discontinue the mental‑health sessions," Flanagan said. She clarified the complex‑needs line originally totaled $175,000 and that the $145,000 reduction “basically eliminated that funding.”
Katie Warren, deputy director at the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECAP, told the board that statewide ECAP funding also contracted. "2,037 slots were eliminated across the state," she said, calling the cuts unprecedented in her 18 years and urging counties to document local impacts and press lawmakers for backfills.
Board members praised county staff for keeping local ECAP slots filled — a factor Warren said limited San Juan County’s proportional slot loss. Councilmember Jane Fuller and other members asked about remaining unmet needs on Lopez and other islands, licensing barriers for unlicensed providers such as Morning Star, and whether community foundations or umbrella groups could provide sliding‑scale support for families who don’t qualify for ECAP but lack affordable private options.
Flanagan and staff reported outreach and coalition building across islands, estimated roughly 17 families from a district survey still needed placement help (with about 10–12 families not yet reached), and said they are working with WIC and other partners to better quantify participation rates and waitlists.
The county plans to continue recruiting providers, assist programs to become licensed (a prerequisite for many subsidies), and seek additional ESE slots for families that exceed basic income thresholds but still face affordability barriers. The board urged staff to collect regular, island‑level data to strengthen advocacy with state legislators.
The board did not take a formal vote on ECAP funding at the meeting. Staff said they will provide updated enrollment and placement figures as outreach and intake continue.
