Federal Budget Cuts Lop Days From Head Start Programs

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Federal budget cuts stopped Head Start programming early this year in Northwest Arkansas.

The 333 children enrolled in Head Start programs in Washington County left school Tuesday, 12 classroom days earlier than scheduled. The Early Head Start program also will close early. Programs also ended early for the 558 children enrolled in Head Start programs in Benton, Carroll and Madison counties, although staff members would not provide a date.

“When I walked in on Tuesday, I noticed that the walls were bare, just white in the other classroom,” said Christina Meeks, a parent.

Meeks’ 2-year-old attends Early Head Start at the Oak Avenue Center in Springdale. Her daughter’s class will end 13 days early July 11, but she feels for the parents and children in the 3- and 4-year-old program who lost that last bit of school and the teachers who lost days of work. As a parent representative to the policy council that governs the Economic Opportunity Agency of Washington County Head Start, she knew the cuts were coming, but the reality sunk in when she saw the empty classroom.

“I just stood there and started crying,” Meeks said.

At A Glance

What Is Head Start?

Local Head Start programs are operated through federal money. Their purpose is to increase school readiness through cognitive and social development of children from low-income families. Head Start programs serve children who enroll as 3- and 4-year-olds and Early Head Start programs serve pregnant women, infants and toddlers.

Source: Staff Report

Head Start program officials across the country knew they would take a cut of about 5 percent when a March 1 deadline passed and federally mandated budget cuts, known as sequestration, rolled into place. Washington County’s early close had been planned by mid-March, said Brenda Zedlitz, Economic Opportunity Agency Head Start director. Her 2013 funding year began in November.

“We had to make up a lot of money in a short amount of time,” Zedlitz said.

An April 26 memo from the federal Administration for Children and Families announced the 2013 cut to Head Start as 5.27 percent. Teachers were furloughed and cuts extend to management. Service area managers will likely be furloughed for 12 days in the summer, she said. Zedlitz still has to find .27 percent to trim from this year’s budget.

“Unless this is reversed we will have to look at reducing the number of children we serve,” Zedlitz said.

The program lost 30,000 hours of programming and 10,000 meals for children, Zedlitz said.

“Where will these children be and will they be safe?” Zedlitz asked.

The 558-seat Head Start programs in Benton, Carroll and Madison counties are operated through Northwest Arkansas Head Start Human Services. While staff members acknowledged the program closed early, they refused to confirm an exact date and deferred all questions to Jerry Adair, executive director. Adair didn’t return repeated phone and email messages left last week. A staff member said he was attending a national conference in Washington.

According to tax documents, the Northwest Arkansas nonprofit program serves 3- and 4-year-olds.

There are about 10,000 children enrolled in Head Start programs in Arkansas and another 1,000-plus in Early Head Start, said Jackie Dedman, Head Start Arkansas Collaboration Office director. Budget cycles at Head Starts across the state are different based on when the program began, she said.

“Every program is not the same. Every county is different, every section of the state is different,” Dedman said.

Across the state there are centers closing early or opening late; reducing the number of slots in the program; furloughing or reducing staff; eliminating travel; reviewing purchases; and trimming transportation in programs that have it, she said. In Northeast Arkansas, some center-based programs will now be home-based, in Southeast Arkansas a home-based program will be cut in half.

In Northwest Arkansas, cuts translated into a 5.25 percent pay cut, decreasing teacher contracts by six days, combining two positions into one and some centers had a planned technology upgrade eliminated, Dedman said.

Head Start is a comprehensive program that refers children to dental services, screens for disabilities and helps parents, Dedman said.

“It’s the big picture,” she said.

At A Glance

Finding Quality Care

Parents looking for quality preschool programs can look for a Better Beginnings star. Better Beginnings is an Arkansas program that certifies programs beyond standard licensing. Individual preschools that apply for the program are ranked with one, two or three stars. Head Start and Arkansas Better Chance programs are ranked with three stars.

Prekindergarten and preschool programs are listed on the Arkansas Department of Human Services website at: dhs.arkansas.gov/dccece/cclas/FacilitySearch.aspx.

Source: Staff Report

State money for Arkansas Better Chance preschool programs has been at $111 million since 2008, said Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

Head Start and the state ABC program are complimentary, Huddleston said. Currently, 80 percent of families within 200 percent of the poverty level have preschool options, he said, but cuts to one program and flat funding to the other could send Arkansas back in time.

“Arkansas could lose $4 million. If you did a straight seat cut, that would translate into 600 seats statewide,” Huddleston said. “You’re really starting to talk about undoing some of the progress Arkansas has made in this area. It’s just not good.”

“Because we serve the neediest of the needy, our services are critical in reducing achievement gaps,” Zedlitz said.

Some school districts have prekindergarten programs, but seats are limited. In Springdale, about 600 3- and 4-year-old children enroll in the Early Childhood Program every year. Bentonville will open an income-based prekindergarten program for 40 children this fall. Rogers has 280 students in Arkansas Better Chance classes and another 60 paid for through a 21st Century Learning Centers grant, said Cathy Davis, early childhood director.

When fall enrollment opened last week, 260 children signed up in two days. Although there is an income requirement, the waiting list stays full, Davis said.

Music and learning stations filled with activities give children an active and fun way to learn. That early education is important socially and academically, Davis said.

“Many of the children we serve have been at home their entire life and not out of the yard or in the community,” she said.

For Meeks, her daughter’s strongest advances were socially. At first she didn’t talk or engage with her classmates, mom said, but in class she learned to be a helper and chatters with other children.

“She has come full circle,” Meeks said.