With one more reason to cheer Olympia expected to come with Wednesday’s 1p State House vote on legalizing gay marriage — and the good news from California, a group of local moms and kids gathered Tuesday night on Capitol Hill to assemble thank you notes on another issue where constituents are hoping their reps won’t back down.
On Friday, February 10, across the Capitol grounds in Olympia, local moms from MomsRising will be installing life-size cut outs of their kids to remind State House and Senate leaders that they can help Washington families and children reach a brighter future by standing up for quality early learning programs.
Tuesday at Miller Community Center, those cutouts were being traced, assembled — and, most importantly, colored.
“These paper dolls are two dimensional, but our kids aren’t. Well-rounded, quality care matters to the future of each individual child, said Sarah Francis, campaign director at MomsRising, in a statement on the event. “These families are counting on legislators to consider the head start they can provide every child with early learning programs.”
According to the group, in 2011, Washington State received a Challenge grant to improve childcare and in 2012, the Washington State Legislature is discussing how they’ll invest in programs to improve childcare centers and provide access to quality preschool to everyone in the state. With the current focus on a teacher evaluation bill, the cutouts will be a small reminder of, perhaps, more important issues in the state’s educational system.
Last fall, we reported on the shuttering of the Seattle Central daycare program. Community college officials went ahead with that move in a cost cutting decision and the center was shut down as expected at the end of the school quarter.
