At the Kirkland Co-Op Preschool (KCP) and the Lake Washington Toddler Group (LWTG), the parents are there to learn just as much as the children.

While the classrooms are filled with youngsters socializing with each other, learning their colors, numbers and letters, it’s the moms and dads who are the real students. As cooperatives, one of the enrollment requirements is that parents volunteer and participate in class as well. And as part of the Parent Education program at Lake Washington Technical College (LWTC) in Kirkland, students learn how to be better parents and receive credit for their time with the preschool groups.

But budget cuts from the state level have trickled down and LWTC officials have proposed to cut the parenting program, which encompasses seven preschool cooperatives in Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell, Woodinville and Duvall. The change would be effective next fall.

This being said, the Kirkland groups plan to continue their programs without the LWTC affiliation. But it won’t come without a struggle.

“We are set for the worst case scenario and ready to go for the next year, thankfully without any big changes for the parents,” said Kim Goodfried, president of KCP, which is located in the First United Methodist Church and serves about 50 families. “We were able to find a way to do it this next year, but the (tuition) rates will have to go up in the future.”

She said LWTC covers their teacher’s insurance and pays for their instructors, who are college employees. With these cuts the cooperative, which has been around since 1947, will now have to pay teacher salaries and insurance.

She noted the KCP is much smaller than LWTG, which serves about 250 families, so “our insurance coverage won’t be as hard to get covered in terms of increases,” said Goodfried. “But the teacher’s payments were a big surprise because we’ve been part of the system for quite a while.”

Doug Emory, dean of academic core, hospitality and service at LWTC, said the proposal to cut the parenting program, which would save the school roughly $300,000, came about three weeks ago as school officials looked for ways to make up for the roughly 20 percent state funding shortfall they project for 2011-12. In dollars, they are looking at a $2.2 million to $3 million gap. Emory said the school’s projected budget for the 2011-12 year, which begins July 1, is $12.4 million.

“This is a massive budget cut,” he said.

Emory added that since 2009, LWTC’s state funding has been reduced by about 44 percent.

He said in proposing cuts, the LWTC executive cabinet – which is made up of the school’s president, vice presidents and executive directors – looked at programs that don’t require full tuition and don’t directly align with the college’s mission as a vocational school. He added that standard tuition at LWTC is $88 per credit and tuition for the parenting program, which serves roughly 900 families per quarter, is $13 per credit.

The program, which was already a couple decades old when Emory inherited it 12 years ago, is divided into two types of instruction: lectures and labs. Emory said the lectures, which are delivered by the instructors, cover various parenting topics from discipline to nutrition. The lab portion gives parents the opportunity to work and play with the children as well as have open discussions with their classmates – the other parents.

“They get a broader perspective of how to deal with children,” Emory said.

Pam Fenton has taught at KCP for 24 years. Before she became a teacher, she was involved in the program as a parent with her two sons.

“My first son was very shy, so I was really worried about him going to kindergarten,” said Fenton. “So this was a good step for him to come and meet other kids and moms.”

But Fenton found out that KCP was also a great place for her to meet friends as well. She met seven fellow moms at KCP more than 20 years ago and the group of friends have dubbed themselves the “Nerdettes.”

“Our kids are in their early 30s now and we still get together about once a month,” said Fenton.

She has also found the parent education portion of the program invaluable. Monthly parent meetings include various speakers who discuss topics from potty training to kid’s nutrition.

“It’s a place where you can come and say, I can’t believe this happened at the grocery store the other day and somebody else will say, that happened to me last week too. What can we do about this? And we don’t get that in a group anywhere else,” Fenton added.

The board of trustees at both cooperatives are looking at ways to make up for the cut in funding. This may include an increase in tuition, which ranges from $60 to $115 per quarter. They are also looking at upping their fund-raising efforts.

Kris Anderson, a teacher at LWTG, has also made a proposal to LWTC officials. She asked the school to offer parent education programming in which the college would be responsible for funding the one credit parent education lecture and the co-op would be responsible for paying for the lab portion of the program. LWTC is expected to make a decision on the proposal some time next week.

Reporter Samantha Pak contributed to this report.