No Kidding! The Children's Alliance blog

Details are still coming out about the stimulus deal U.S. House and Senate negotiators worked out in conference. The House approved the agreement this morning, and the Senate is expected to vote this afternoon.

We’ve gotten the lowdown on several of our key priorities, including estimates of what the stimulus could mean for children here in our Washington. The targeted support for kids should help us hold kids harmless as lawmakers cut their way to a balanced budget. Here’s the rundown:

Early Learning

The stimulus package that came out of conference included the higher House investments in early learning programs. $2 billion will go to the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program, which supports low-income families in obtaining quality child care. That will bring an estimated $33 million into Washington’s early learning programs. Plus, Head Start and Early Head Start programs are set to get $2.1 billion nationwide--an estimated $5.3 million for Washington state. Early learning took a hit in the budget the Governor

A proposal to allow Washington schools to shorten the school week sounds at first glance like one of those think-outside-the-box moneysavers we’re all looking for in these hard times.  Not so fast, explains Yakima School District Superintendent Ben Soria.  He tells MSNBC that for many students the meals they get at school "may be the only real nutritional meals" they get on those days,

Do the math: shortening the school week from 5 to 4 would reduce the number of square meals these kids get by 20 percent, from up to 15