The Blog

Bette Hyde, Director, Department of Early Learning Bette Hyde, Director, Department of Early Learning

04/16/09

As a longtime educator (and a mother and grandmother), I’ve always believed that children are a top priority for Washington. It’s why I’m so honored that Governor Gregoire has appointed me to serve as Director of the Department of Early Learning.

DEL’s mission is to help ensure children in Washington grow up safe and healthy, and have quality early learning experiences that prepare them for success in school and life. This mission is more important now than ever. We know that in tough economic times, children are deeply affected: family stress rises due to job loss and lack of resources. DEL helps support healthy child development by:

  • Overseeing the state-funded preschool program for 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families (ECEAP),

  • Licensing and monitoring child care settings to ensure they’re safe, healthy places for children, and

  • Working with the Department of Social and Health Services to help low-income families find and pay for child care while they’re working, looking for work or in job training.

Gov. Gregoire has made children a clear priority even in—especially in—these tough times. Her proposed 2009-2010 budget preserves ECEAP at its current enrollment level, and maintains all-day kindergarten in the lowest-income schools. I accepted this position knowing I’ll have a boss who is a champion for children, and who wants children to be competent and confident learners as they enter kindergarten.

I’ll be meeting with early learning stakeholders around the state to talk about priorities, and I’ll continue to strengthen the partnership with our nonprofit partner, Thrive by Five Washington, to make sure we leverage public and private resources on behalf of children. I welcome your input as we focus on this incredibly important work. As we say at DEL, kids’ potential is our purpose!