OLYMPIA, Wash. -- This session, Washington state lawmakers approved a major investment in child care and its workers.

The state budget provides $360 million for child-care grants, including $36 million in increased compensation for about 10,000 child-care workers across the state.

Luc Jasmin, co-owner of Parkview Early Learning Center in Spokane president of the Washington Childcare Centers Association, said most of the compensation funds will be distributed this year.

"This is the biggest investment from our state in early learning, ever," Jasmin asserted. "And it took some time. It took a lot of people, it took legislators who understood the importance of early learning, but we've got to keep it going."

Jasmin noted the funding includes subsidies to help more families afford care. The budget also includes $30 million for health coverage for about 15,000 workers, premium-free, through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. Coverage is expected to be available by September.

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, said wages for child-care workers stagnated after the Great Recession when legislators made big cuts to the budget. But he pointed out they've taken a different approach during the pandemic.

"Legislators realized that fundamental to high-quality child care was respect for and compensation of child-care workers, which has not been at the center of their agenda for a long, long time," Burbank remarked.

Burbank added the increased investment in child care is also an investment in a more equitable Washington, since it helps a workforce made up disproportionately of women and people of color.

As the nation processes the horrific shooting in Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers were killed, teachers' unions across Illinois and America are pushing lawmakers, for stricter gun control measures and mental health support for teachers and students.

Kathi Griffin, president of the Illinois Education Association (IEA), which represents about 135,000 teachers and education support staff across the state, explained the effect on schools.

"Anytime someone is injured in school or killed at the hand of another, it is heartbreaking," Griffin stated. "And it isn't just the teachers, it is our kids. On top of the trauma of the pandemic."

In 2019, the IEA helped push through the general assembly the School Threat Assessment law, requiring schools to build threat assessments and take a preventive approach to school violence.

Griffin pointed out the National Education Association offers trauma training for teachers, which can in turn help students.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates America's supply of teachers will be 200,000 below its projected demand by 2025.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, spoke to a congressional subcommittee Wednesday. She said counseling, mental health support, and investments in "community schools," which integrate academics, health and social supports, will help keep teachers in education.

"Full-service community schools will actually help kids and help teachers teach and identify problems that we see before we see these kinds of awful situations that we saw last night," Weingarten contended.

Illinois has long struggled with gun violence, in part due to gun trafficking from states with looser gun rules. According to Chicago's 2017 gun trace report, about six of 10 guns recovered after a crime in the previous three years came from outside the state, mostly from neighboring Indiana.

During the COVID pandemic, West Virginia's elementary school enrollment dropped and saw rankings near the bottom among states for some education metrics. However, those students now are catching up on what they may have missed while remote learning with the help of a global nonprofit.

Cathryn Miller, state director for Save the Children's West Virginia program, said her organization has faced an uphill battle in the Mountain State.

"If you look at the 2021 U.S. Census, West Virginia fell among the bottom 10 states for both school disruptions and having the tools they need to learn at home," she said. "Some of the schools did not receive enough devices during their remote learning until January of 2021."

Miller said Save the Children now partners with 50 schools in eight West Virginia counties to provide early education and social-emotional learning programs to about 2,300 children.

Miller said the elementary education programs are offered both during the day and after school, with a focus on two core subjects.

"They strive for reading and math proficiency at the end of third grade, which is that critical time when children need to go from learning to read to reading to learn," she said. "And that is really what sets them up for future success in school and life."

Shane Garver, head of education, hunger and resilience for Save the Children, said that while West Virginia's education system was one of the hardest hit, most American families struggled to keep up with their kids' schooling during the pandemic.

"As the pandemic began, nine out of every 10 families with kids across the U.S. faced significant disruptions in their child's learning," he said. "Recent research has shown that kids are four to five months behind in reading and math skills."

Garver also noted that students from minority communities are up to six months behind in their studies, and students of families in poverty are up to seven months behind.

With negotiations for Pennsylvania's budget under way, a new report unpacks the state's investment in early-childhood education. Advocates hope it can sway lawmakers to boost funding in the budget.

Gov. Tom Wolf's final budget proposal includes a $70 million increase in pre-K funding. In the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children report, the Commonwealth ranks 14th for per-capita funding, compared with 26 states with similar pre-K programs.

Despite increased support for pre-K during the pandemic, Kari King, president and chief executive of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said there's still work to be done because 61% of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in the state remain unserved.

"When kids have access to high-quality pre-K," she said, "we're really getting them ready for kindergarten, getting them ready for school with the early literacy, early numeracy concepts, to really get them on that path to success throughout the rest of their education and their school years."

Wolf's preschool budget increase would go to Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, which focus on early childhood education for low-income families. The budget must be finalized by June 30.

The report included investment recommendations to improve the quality of Pennsylvania's pre-K programs. King said supporting educators through professional development is one step.

"Recruitment and retention has been a really big issue in this sector, particularly since the pandemic," she said "So, seeing what we can do to support the workforce in gaining those educational credentials - so that the programs can be high quality, because that's really where it does show that children do better."

An analysis of Pennsylvania's pre-K programs by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill found that children in Pre-K Counts have significantly higher language and math skills than their peers. King said the report will be shared with General Assembly leaders and the Wolf administration.