2025 Washington State Legislative Session Final Results : How Early Learning Fared

Governor Bob Ferguson’s May 20th action on the budgets and final policy bills sent to his desk marked the official end of the 2025 legislative session. By all accounts, this was an extremely challenging year with a staggering state revenue shortfall; a new Governor and a slew of new legislators to become acquainted with; and a number of tragic deaths that struck the legislative community.

In the end, the Legislature was able to close the state’s $16 billion four-year budget gap by enacting a budget that included a mixture of new revenue as well as delays, reductions and cuts to existing services and programs.

For early learning, the state’s fiscal crisis necessitated delays to anticipated Fair Start for Kids Act expansions, including:

• Delay of expansion of eligibility for Working Connections Child Care to 75% of State Median Income to July 1, 2029;
• Delay of the ECEAP entitlement to the 2030-31 school year; and
• A one-year delay for the child care center rate increases for children in Working Connections Child Care (pushing the rate increase start to July 1, 2026, rather than the expected date of July 1, 2025).

Other budget savings legislators found in the early learning space came from increases in family co-payments for Working Connections Child Care; elimination of funding for the Early ECEAP program (with maintenance of the program protected); and reduction in funding for program supports such as the Child Care Complex Needs Fund, Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation and the Dual Language Rate Enhancement.

Despite the difficult budget environment, the adopted budgets did include new investments in early learning, including:

• Nearly $100 million in Capital funding for the Early Learning Facilities Fund, including $51 million for competitive grants, $9 million for minor renovation grants and $3 million for the new Emergency Fund created by newly passed HB 1314 (Callan and Abbarno).
• $383.7 million to fund the Collective Bargaining Agreement for Family Child Care providers which includes funding to increase the reimbursement rate for Working Connections Child Care to the 85th percentile of the 2024 Market Rate Survey beginning July 1, 2025.
• ECEAP providers will see a $13.9 million investment to support a 5% rate increase for full-day slots and a nearly $4 million investment for 250 full-day slots.

Looking for more detailed information? Check out Start Early Washington’s Policy and Advocacy Resources Page. There you can find our Final Analysis of Early Learning Items in the 2025-27 Budgets, 2025 Early Learning Facilities Fund Legislative Review and Final Early Learning Bill Tracker.

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