What’s the DEEL? Department of Education and Early Learning

Department of Education and Early Learning

Kindergarten Readiness Gets a Boost from Summer-Extension Programming, a Pandemic-Era Adaptation to the Seattle Preschool Program with Lasting Benefits 

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Last week, hundreds of Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) participants started kindergarten better prepared and with more confidence around the big transition to school. That’s because preschool classes were extended through the summer for the second consecutive year, with some programs having as many as 10 weeks of extended programming.  

Summer extension was first piloted in the summer of 2021 in response to a school year rife with learning interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provides rising kindergarteners extra support and more opportunities for social and academic preparedness as they get ready to enter the K-12 system. SPP providers, whose contracts with the City typically cover September through June programming, were offered a second summer extension option. Many of these programs experienced frequent staff and student absences during the 2021-2022 school year, as the impact of COVID-19 on learning persisted, and 20 out of 26 provider agencies opted to participate in the 2022 summer extension. Over half of SPP’s 128 classrooms stayed open to serve their preschoolers through late July or August.  

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DEEL Awards $782K for Seattle Preschool Program Facilities Improvements and Celebrates Start of SPP’s 8th School Year

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Awards include first-time grants for home-based Family Child Care SPP providers serving culturally and linguistically diverse communities

SEATTLE (September 13, 2022) – This morning, the Department of Education and Early Learning announced $782,000 in facilities funding for six Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) providers, including first-time awards to three home-based Family Child Care (FCC) programs. The announcement also celebrated the start of the eighth year of SPP, which has expanded from serving 283 students in 2015 to having capacity for more than 2,100 students for the 2022-2023 school year. 

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DEEL Announces $1.4M in Community Grants to Provide Prenatal-to-Three Supports for BIPOC, Immigrant and Refugee Communities

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NEWS RELEASE 

Bruce Harrell, Mayor 

Dr. Dwane Chappelle, Director 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

September 1, 2022  

Contact: Lori Baxter, lori.baxter@seattle.gov, 206-402-8795

DEEL Announces $1.4M in Community Grants to Provide Prenatal-to-Three Supports for BIPOC, Immigrant and Refugee Communities

Apply by September 21 for individual grants up to $150,000 to support kindergarten readiness and reduce race- and income-based disparities

SEATTLE (September 1) – The Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) has announced applications are open for the 2022 Prenatal-to-Three Community Grant Program, with $1.4 million in funding available from revenue generated by the City’s Sweetened Beverage Tax (SBT). The grant program will support community-based organizations serving children aged birth to three, pregnant individuals, and guardians of children aged birth to three within the city of Seattle to support equitable birth outcomes and increased early childhood development services. Applicants can apply for awards up to $150,000, with grants determined through a competitive process managed by DEEL.

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Seattle-Based Child Care Providers Receiving Grants of $1000-$5000 and $500 Per Staff Member*

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DEEL is also supporting a series of job fair events this September to draw more workers to the child care profession and support preschool and child care classrooms in the coming school year.

Child Care workers across King County, including staff from Tiny Tots Development Center in Seattle, will receive individual payments between $400-$500, to be distributed between August and October 2022. Pictured clockwise from top left: Paola Jaimes-Mercade, Cristal Orea, Igram Mohamed, Mong Ha Lu, and Halima Ahmed.

* Payments for all child care staff before payroll taxes: $503

This week, payments will begin going out to 631 Seattle providers who are receiving a flexible-spending stabilization grant from the City’s Department of Education and Early Learning to support ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, 4,589 Seattle child care workers will receive a one-time staff retention payment between $400-500, as part of $7.4 million in joint funding from the City of Seattle and King County to support the region’s child care workers.

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Staff Spotlight: CCAP Education Specialist Unit

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Child care is an essential part of our city’s infrastructure, allowing countless families to contribute to the economy within vital roles in healthcare, business, education, service industries, and more. But despite the value of child care within a healthy and vibrant city, the child care profession is largely still an undervalued and underpaid occupation, and one that has been in crisis before and even more so since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Within the Department of Education and Early Learning, a team of CCAP Education Specialists support child care providers partnering with the City of Seattle as part of the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Many of Seattle’s child care businesses, including both home-based and center-based care, are owned and operated by Black, Indigenous, immigrant, or refugee women of color, and DEEL’s CCAP Education Specialists work closely with these providers to improve their experience contracting with the City. Education Specialists (or Ed Specs, as they are sometimes referred to) work closely with DEEL’s Change Team, part of the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, to advance equity in child care by providing resources and technical assistance to navigate systemic barriers and building greater access to high-quality, affordable childcare for Seattle families.

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FEPP Levy Year 2 Results for 2020-2021 School Year

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DEEL is proud to release the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy Year 2 Report, covering the 2020-2021 school year!

The 2020-2021 school year marked the second year of implementation for the seven-year FEPP Levy, passed by Seattle voters in November 2018. It also marked the most radical change in education service delivery in Seattle history, as public schools discontinued traditional in-person learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many education services and community-based programs moved to remote or hybrid platforms for much of the 2020-2021 school year.

This new landscape challenged Seattle’s progress toward educational equity and brought a school year fraught with interruptions to learning—from technology obstacles and social-emotional challenges to spiking COVID-19 case counts and the staffing shortages they caused. Communities of color and lower-income families were most likely to be negatively affected by the health and economic impacts of the pandemic and less likely to have reliable internet access or parents working from home helping their children navigate online learning.

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DEEL Releases Third Round of Funding in Support of Child Care Providers, in Partnership with King County

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Lois Martin, Director of Community Day Center for Children, provides welcome remarks at Monday’s press conference announcing the 2022 Child Care Retention Payments and Seattle Stabilization Grants. Other speakers included (L to R) Susan Brown, CEO & President of Kids Co.; King County Executive Dow Constantine; Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell; and Donny Willeto, Development Director for Child Care Resources.

Today, King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell joined child care partners to announce the opening of applications for the 2022 Child Care Retention Payments, a one-time retention bonus payment to child care workers across the county, as well as a new round of stabilization grants for Seattle providers provided by the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL). A total of $7.4 million in joint funding will be available for eligible providers through both opportunities, including $5 million from the King County Best Starts for Kids levy and $2.4 million from the Seattle JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax. Payments are expected to reach more than 9,000 child care workers across the county.

This represents the third round of funding DEEL has provided in support of child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2021, DEEL provided more than 500 grants totaling $2.3 million to help stabilize child care businesses in Seattle, many of which had remained open from the earliest days of the pandemic. In September 2021, a second round of supports was opened, providing $2.9 million in recognition payments to more than 3,500 child care workers.   

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DEEL and King County Best Starts for Kids to provide joint retention bonus funding for child care workers across King County

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NEWS RELEASE

Dow Constantine, King County Executive

Bruce Harrell, Mayor of Seattle

For Immediate Release

June 13, 2022

Contact: Lori Baxter, Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning, 206-402-8795

In partnership with the City of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL), King County is funding $7 million to provide one-time retention bonus payments to child care workers across King County. These payments will support this critical workforce, assist in continuity of care, and provide more stability for the industry.

SEATTLE (June 13) – King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced today a one-time retention bonus payment to child care workers across the County. A total of $7.4 million in joint funding will be available for eligible providers. These one-time payments are made possible with combined funding from the Best Starts for Kids levy and JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax and are estimated to reach more than 9,000 child care workers across the county.

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Classroom Expansion and New Dual-Language Programs Mark New Year of Seattle Preschool Program

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This week, at the Denise Louie Education Center in the Chinatown/International District, Mayor Bruce Harrell and Seattle DEEL Director Dwane Chappelle joined Denise Louie Director Susan Yang to announce the opening of Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) applications for the 2022-2023 school year and the expansion of seven new classrooms for the program’s eighth year.

Tuesday’s event also celebrated the delivery of more than 8,700 home learning kits that have been provided to SPP families throughout the pandemic to encourage parent engagement and support sensory exploration and important foundations for learning and development. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the teachers and faculty at Denise Louie,” said SPP parent Liling Kong, who also spoke at today’s press conference. “I’m so grateful for the way they provide motivating lessons, help [my daughter] set realistic goals, and encourage learning and improving skills. They have such wonderful teachers at this school, and I can’t thank you all enough.”

This year, SPP will add seven new classrooms and 144 additional seats, allowing the City to serve up to 2,144 preschoolers this upcoming school year with its award-winning, high-quality programming. Two of the new classrooms will offer dual-language programming, including SPP’s first Somali-English classroom at Voices of Tomorrow Family and Child Center in South Seattle. Two new SPP Plus classrooms that provide inclusive programming for children with disabilities will open at Seattle Public Schools sites.

Denise Louie Education Center serves more than 500 children, ages birth to five, across multiple sites. Executive Director Susan Yang said, “The Seattle Preschool Program has grown into a national model for other cities and Denise Louie proudly hosts four classrooms across the city. We thank the City for their leadership and support through the pandemic, and the Mayor for his long-term commitment to early learning.”

Families can apply for Seattle Preschool Program at seattle.gov/applySPP. Translated applications are available and additional language assistance is provided for those who need help completing the application process by calling DEEL at 206-386-1050 or emailing preschool@seattle.gov.

Read the full press announcement here.

FEPP Levy Year 1 Shows Promising Results for Educational Equity

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DEEL is excited to share our Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy Year 1 Report for the 2019-2020 School Year!* In the first year of implementation, the FEPP Levy showed encouraging results in our efforts to advance educational equity, close opportunity gaps, and build a better future for Seattle students.

Racial equity results and highlights we saw in Year 1 of the FEPP Levy include:

  • Increased access to high quality affordable preschool through our Seattle Preschool Program
  • Improved high school graduation rates for Levy-supported high schools
  • Encouraging college retention rates for our Seattle Promise scholars
  • Narrowing of race-based opportunity gaps in kindergarten readiness and four-year high school graduation rates

A full copy of the report can be viewed here.

DEEL would like to thank all our FEPP Levy partners who have helped bring this work to life by providing direct services to Seattle children, youth and families and professional development and systems-building support to our providers. Together, we are creating greater opportunity for our students furthest from educational justice and a stronger economic future for our city.

For media inquiries and other questions about this report, please contact education@seattle.gov.

* A version of this report was shared in summer 2021 with City Council and our FEPP Levy Oversight Committee