Rep. Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla, Southeast Washington, has been named one of the Legislature’s “Champions for Children” by the Seattle-based Children’s Alliance.
Walsh was cited for her efforts to secure passage of a bill this session establishing an early learning advisory council and creating a child care quality rating and improvement system.
“What we are trying to do is to provide parents with clear and easy-to-find information about the quality of child care and early education programs available to them,” Walsh said. “We want to improve the quality of early learning programs in our state and help our kids to get better prepared for school.”
The advisory council will work with the state’s Department of Early Learning, created by the Legislature in 2006. The council will have 25 members including legislators, state agency officials, parents and experts in areas such as children with disabilities, day care providers and K-12 education.
The Children’s Alliance cited 17 legislators for their work this year on children’s issues. The Alliance is a statewide public policy advocacy organization that works to ensure that children have the things they need to thrive. In addition to early learning, the Alliance is actively engaged in health care, nutrition and foster care issues.
