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Parents and instructors urge board to restore funding for parent-education programs
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Summary
Multiple parents, instructors and program leaders told the State Board that a new funding allocation model will effectively eliminate longstanding parent-education and cooperative preschool programs, urging a delay or restoration of prior allocations; board staff said they are working with colleges to identify solutions.
Dozens of parents, current students and instructors testified to the State Board that recent changes to the system’s funding allocation model put parent-education programs at risk and urged the board to restore the prior allocation or delay implementation to allow time for sustainable funding solutions.
Ashley Farina, who said she is a parent-education student, told the board that parent-education programs ‘‘quietly train many of Washington’s future educators, paraeducators, and community leaders’’ and provide early-childhood supports at far lower cost than alternatives. Annika Sambrennan, identifying herself with Bellevue College’s parent-education program, said the proposed rule change ‘‘will significantly impact and eliminate parent education programs that have been serving families in our state for 88 years’’ and asked the board to reconsider or delay implementation.
Becky Cook, a parent-education instructor at North Seattle College, urged the board to ‘‘restore the prior allocation model for parent education as a workforce instruction program,’’ and said graduates of those programs become paraeducators, PTA volunteers, and community leaders. Several speakers provided program estimates used in testimony: OPEB (the Organization of Parenting Education Programs) requested deferral of the new application model and said programs currently serve approximately 4,400 students and support an additional roughly 5,000 early-education seats.
Public commenters asked the board to account for workforce and community outcomes that program advocates say are not fully captured by financial metrics. Speakers described program roles in early intervention, community-building and pathways into teaching and related jobs, and several asked the board to restore recognition that parenting is a vocation supported through education.
State Board members and staff acknowledged the testimony. Board staff said they are ‘‘committed to finding more solutions’’ and are working with colleges to explore options; the board did not adopt a policy change in this meeting but accepted emailed submissions to be compiled and distributed to members. Executive staff said colleges and board staff would continue discussions about funding and potential mitigations.
The hearing did not produce a formal board action to reverse the allocation model during this meeting. Board staff and members said they would continue to work with stakeholders and that colleges have been asked to provide additional input; any statutory or policy changes would require follow-up and, if necessary, legislative action or later board consideration.
