Co-op preschools face uncertainty with community college funding shift

The future of potentially thousands of co-op preschool slots is unclear as the state changes how it distributes money to community colleges.

More than a dozen of Washington's 34 community and technical colleges offer parent education programs that teach people parenting skills and about child development.

These parents help operate part-time early learning cooperatives, serving roughly 4,500 babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The co-ops typically provide part-time instruction, with parents taking rotating volunteer shifts to help staff the program.

Under the current model, colleges could include these parent ed programs in their enrollment count submitted to the state, which goes into calculating how much state money each community college receives.

But a new funding formula taking effect in July will no longer allow parent ed enrollment to be counted toward that per-college allocation - unless a program proves that it provides a credential that is required to get a job.

The change has prompted an outcry from advocates for the co-op preschools and backlash from some state legislators. As of Wednesday, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has not approved any requests from colleges to continue including parent ed in their enrollment count.

The potential reduction in co-op spots looms at a shaky time for early learning in the state. While lawmakers expanded the state's preschool program for low-income children this session due to a sizable donation from Ballmer Group, they cut funding for the state's subsidized childcare program, Working Connections, and for the Transition to Kindergarten program offered in some public schools. (Ballmer Group also provides funding to The Seattle Times to support coverage of early childhood education.)

The state agency overseeing the college system stresses that individual colleges are responsible for their own budgets and for programming decisions, including the decision to keep or close a parent education program. Colleges could still use local and philanthropic funding to keep the programs going, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges noted.

However, without parent ed enrollment counting toward state funding, the long-term outlook for these programs is less certain, said Jen Giomi, board president at the Organization of Parent Education Programs and faculty coordinator at South Seattle College's parent education and cooperative preschool program.

"There are going to be very few colleges, especially in a year when I think overall funding is down, that are going to choose to continue a program" beyond a year or two without the state funding, Giomi said.

The number of colleges offering these programs has dwindled in recent years. In 2019, there were 21 programs, Giomi said.

Now, individual colleges must decide whether to keep offering parent ed - and how to fund it if they do continue.

Some colleges are applying for approval from the state board - hoping they can demonstrate their parent ed program provides training needed in the workforce, and can therefore count toward the school's enrollment-tied state funding.

'The nail in the coffin'

Peninsula College on the Olympic Peninsula is shutting down its program, nudged by the state funding change.

"The funding formula change was the nail in the coffin for us," said Aimee Gordon, a spokesperson for the college, in an email. "We had identified it last year as a program to consider cutting given our financial challenges, but the change made it simply impossible for us to continue."

Bellevue College is shutting down its parent education program due to a number of factors, said spokesperson Raechel Dawson. The college "has had to make several difficult decisions due to the statewide budget shortfall," including the program's closure, she said.

Some colleges intend to continue offering their parent ed program without adapting it to fit into the workforce framework, which means enrollment in their programs won't generate state funding.

In early April, state legislators stepped into the fray, saying the board had not indicated during the legislative session that the programs - and associated early learning slots - were at risk.

Cuts to the parent ed program would be "a huge blow" that undermined legislators' efforts to preserve early learning slots this session, they said in an April letter to the board's executive director.

A spokesperson for the board said in an email last month that board representatives were meeting with lawmakers "to discuss their concerns and how we can support (the colleges)."

What is parent education?

The co-op preschools attached to parent ed programs are treated as laboratories where parents enrolled in the program work in the classroom as assistant teachers.

Parents say that the programs provide support and community as they navigate the early years of their children's lives. Plus, it's a more affordable early learning option in a state where full-time childcare for young kids easily exceeds $1,000 a month.

"It is some of the most affordable programming in the city, across the board," said Sarah Peppers. Both her daughters have attended Admiral Cooperative Preschool in West Seattle, affiliated with South Seattle College.

The co-op preschools can charge less largely because parents volunteer in the classroom and help operate the preschool - everything from making play dough to acting as treasurer - bypassing the need for a full staff roster.

And these co-op preschools are exempted from state licensing requirements because each session is under four hours and parents are working in the classroom, adding to the number of adults keeping an eye on and supporting the kids.

While these co-ops are only part time, it's a solid option for parents who have the flexibility and time to pitch in.

The co-ops also bind together across the colleges through the Organization of Parenting Education Programs to get liability insurance, which is a high cost in early learning.

A 'powerful benefit,' but not a 'workforce outcome'

Enrollments counted under the new funding model are meant to "focus state funding on academic transfer, workforce training, and adult basic education," according to an issue brief from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.

The document says parent ed programs must present evidence of specific entry-level jobs that students would be qualified to start right after completing a program, and that the program is required for employment in those roles.

"There has to be a relationship between the instruction that's provided and a workforce benefit: employment, wages," said Bill Belden, a workforce education policy associate at the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. He said the agency considers whether the training students receive in the program will lead to or is required for employment. "It's a very powerful benefit," Belden said of parent education, "But it's not a workforce outcome."

Supporters of the co-ops contend that parent ed does contribute to professional development. Parents gain useful skills they can add to their résumés as they get involved in the management and operations of their preschool, advocates say.

And workforce stability depends on children and families who are safe and supported, Giomi said in a letter to the members of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges in February.

"There is no strong workforce without parents/caregivers doing the essential work of raising and supporting children," Giomi wrote. " … These programs are not peripheral to workforce development - they are foundational to it."

State lawmakers said in their April letter that parent ed has been a key point of entry for recruiting and training new early learning educators, with many parents enrolling in career pathways in early learning and childhood development, where there is a "severe shortage" of workers.

But Joyce Hammer, the board's deputy executive director of education, said a college's parent ed program would have to be entirely redesigned for its enrollment to still count toward the state funding allocation.

"In how it's set up now, it's going to be very challenging, and we have not seen anybody be able to do it yet," Hammer said in a May 11 interview.

The agency consulted the state's Department of Children, Youth and Families, and said DCYF could not point to any jobs that would require or prefer parent education, specifically, Hammer said.

Belden said the agency has spoken with faculty and administrators, has reviewed colleges' requests and provided feedback, and is not trying to discourage programs to apply. Colleges have until June 16 to submit their paperwork.

"If there is a model out there that a college can provide us that would work, we will acknowledge it," he said. "We just haven't found it yet."

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of Raechel Dawson, a spokesperson for Bellevue College.

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 6:49 AM.