Voters’ recent renewal of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy under the leadership of former Mayor Bruce Harrell will significantly increase the number of City-subsidized child care and preschool seats in Seattle, but Dr. Dwane Chappelle knows the City has a ways to go before it can claim to offer universal child care — that is, by Chappelle’s definition, a comprehensive system of affordable, quality, and culturally responsive child care to all kids who need it.
Chappelle is director of Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL), the City team charged with helping local families access licensed child care, preschool and after-school enrichment programs. DEEL coordinates with state federal programs and state programs like Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) as well as King County’s Best Starts for Kids to stabilize providers, share data, assess gaps, and ensure that Seattle investments complement — rather than duplicate — other public funding.
Chappelle acknowledges that stay-at-home parents, family members, nannies, and friends are part of any comprehensive system, but a key component is ample licensed care that pays providers a respectable, livable wage and costs less than the 20% of a family’s budget many Seattle families currently pay.
We spoke with Chappelle, who has four kids of his own, about what is needed to achieve the universal child care system dream.
“I truly believe that every family should have access to child care and preschool education, because it’s going to open up doors for them to thrive,” Chappelle said. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Seattle’s Child (SC): Where is Seattle in terms of achieving affordable child care?
Dwane Chappelle: Universal child care means families can access care [for both day and night parent work or school schedules] for their children when they need it, in an environment that is safe and supportive, without cost being a barrier. Universal child care also must mean that providers can offer that care with stability for their businesses and adequate pay that recognizes their valued role in our society and our region’s economic growth. If universal affordable child care is going to benefit workers with a 9-5 schedule, and especially those with evening or overnight shifts, we have to integrate our child care model so that it complements the school day schedule.
SC: What will it take for Seattle to reach the universal goal?
Chappelle: The national benchmark is a family spending no more than 7% of their household income on child care. Reaching that level would really require sustained, long-term investment across multiple systems. About 70% of the families [in the Seattle Preschool Program] meet the income level where they pay no tuition at all. To continue to make this happen would [take] continued public investment at all levels, not just from us at the City, but from the county, the state, the federal level. And we definitely would need more licensed providers, more facilities, and stronger workforce support.
SC: Where will sustainable funding be found?
Chappelle: Strategically blending funding between federal, state, and local dollars is a best practice to fund universal access, and we stand by it. In Seattle we’ve had this multilayered approach because no single stream funding can build a sustainable system. This reflects high operating costs to providers, a wide range of family needs in terms of service hours, and the need to recruit and retain a qualified workforce. Rarely is a single funding source designed to cover all of those variables. The levy is the commitment that the city has been making since 1990, but we have to blend that with state, federal, and other community resources, that will create a system where families really can truly feel or see the impact.
SC: What about employers and donors?
Chappelle: Philanthropy and employers can and should play an important role in supporting universal child care systems. The Ballmer Group’s support of the state Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is certainly special. Other philanthropic investments have focused on growing and sustaining the child care workforce.
SC: You’ve said securing strong relationships with child care providers is a challenge, but crucial to universal care. Why?
Chappelle: There’s nothing more important than having peace of mind when you drop your child off with whomever the child care provider is. And that’s what I ask the team to do — to make sure we really know who our providers are and provide them with the necessary support to make sure [theirs is] the safest space where young people can thrive.
Early childhood educators, which includes child care workers and preschool teachers, are really some of the most important people in our young people’s lives, right? However, compensation doesn’t reflect the value of the work that they’re doing so retaining and attracting the talent is a major challenge.
SC: What personally motivates you to fight for accessible childcare?
Chappelle: My mom was an educator for 42 years. To be honest, when I was a kid, it frustrated me: Why is she always bringing someone home? Or why are we always at the school until 8:00 at night? But as I got older and I started working with children myself … I just loved it. Then I started seeing the impact that I was having on young people.
As I started to get older, I realized how important not only life is, but how important it is for families to know that their loved one, their most precious jewel, is safe. I have three brothers, and now I have four kids of my own, and I truly believe that every family should have access to child care and preschool education, because it’s going to open up doors for them to thrive. … Also, I love trying to figure out other creative or innovative ideas, whether it’s through a policy or financial approach that’s going to help families.
What I want for me, I want every family to have it for their kid. I’ve been in this business for — this might be my 24th, 25th year — and I’ve never met a family, a parent, or grandparent, whoever it is, who didn’t want what’s best for their child.
A final note on worker needs
In 2025, Seattle invested in retention payments for licensed child care workers, while the state worked to increase some types of WCCC provider reimbursement rates. Seattle and King County also spent $2.9 million in a one-time payout to help early-learning staff stay in their jobs. Among other things, Seattle’s FEPP renewal funds six more years of child care worker training and pay support. King County’s Best Starts for Kids levy, approved by voters in 2021, continues to focus on increasing worker wages outside the City.
Graphic by Kathryn Holloway Sources: City of Seattle, Child Care Aware American et al
Read more from our coverage of what it will take to advance universal child care in Seattle:
Universal Child Care: What can Seattle learn from New Mexico? New Mexico’s new universal, no-fee child care system has insights
The cost of child care: One block, five families, $200,000+ a year Child care for two kids can cost as much as four years of college tuition
Immigrant providers are critical to achieving universal child care Equity in child care access depends on it
What’s the DEEL? Seattle’s work toward universal child care: DEEL Director Dwane Chappelle discusses where we are and what it will take
Child care by the numbers—and where to turn for help: Seattle is a ways away from universal child care, but assistss thousands with care
In Seattle, few employers significantly subsidize child care: Outlier YMCA considers child care ‘not a perk, but a foundation for equity and opportunity
‘We need long-term funding not short-term fixes’: City and state leaders say they’ll keep working to address the state’s child care crisis
