[The Center Square]—Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson on Wednesday announced a huge philanthropic commitment to the state’s Early Childhood Education and Assessment Program, with the Ballmer Group committed to donating up to $170 million per year for the next decade.

The boost comes months after Washington lawmakers, facing a potential budget shortfall, made substantial cuts this session to programs serving early ECEAP infants through age 3.

Due to the shortfall, the Washington Department of Children, Youth & Families, which oversees early learning, had to cut costs, settling on reductions to the Fair Start for Kids Act. The reductions include a $70 million cut to ECEAP and a pause to its roughly $70 million planned expansion, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Start Early W

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