Early Start Act

Washington’s Early Start Act, enacted in 2015, required DCYF to report on a number of measures related to the state’s implementation of Early Achievers. For past years, please refer to these comprehensive reports:

Additional legislation enacted in 2020 (SB 6507 Section 3 subsections 4-7), changed DCYF required reporting for Early Achievers from a comprehensive annual report to annual updates of online indicators. DCYF is required to report:

  • Indicators of childcare supply/demand at the local level. For this information, see the DCYF Need/Supply Dashboard.
  • ECEAP program need by school district. For this information see the annual ECEAP Saturation Study.
  • Number and percent of childcare providers enrolled in Early Achievers, waiting to be rated, and who have achieved required rating. For state-level information on these indicators, see the Early Achievers Data Dashboards, updated monthly.

Look for additional information in this section soon.

  • Licensed Capacity

    Licensed Capacity

    Washington State has more than 5,300 licensed or certified child care facilities, including licensed child care centers, licensed family home child care programs, and licensed school-age programs.

    READ THE REPORT FROM CHILD CARE AWARE OF WASHINGTON

    License Capacity of Open Child Care Providers, by Type, 2020
      graph
    Licensed Capacity of Child Care Providers, by Type, End of State Fiscal Year 2021
      Child Care Center Family Home Providers School Age Only Total
    Statewide Capacity 122,953 31,385 31,138

    185,476

    Source:DCYF. (August 2021). Covid daily report [June 28, 2021]. WACompass.
    Notes: Licensed capacity is maximum number of children that a licensee is authorized to have on the premises of the child care at any one time, not a measure of the number of children a provider intends to serve.

    Early Learning