Head Start and Early Head Start organizations across the state have cut budgets by shortening their school years, furloughing workers and eliminating positions as a result of federal budget cuts.
Some programs anticipate reducing the number of children their programs will serve in the 2013-14 school year either by closing classrooms or ending services for families who can’t provide their own transportation.
The Budget Control Act of 2011 required a series of federal spending cuts, called sequestration, starting March 1 that reduce federal spending by $85 billion, including $42.67 billion in nondefense spending. Sequestration amounts to a 5 percent reduction for most nondefense discretionary funding, according to the federal Office of Management and Budget.
The 22 agencies overseeing Head Start and Early Head Start adjusted their annual operating budgets to reflect a 5.27 percent cut that went into effect with the automatic cuts. Many agencies closed centers early for the2012-13 year, but more changes will hit in August.
The White House estimated that up to 70,000 children nationwide would lose access to Head Start and Early Head Start, including as many as 600 children in Arkansas.
“As the son of a former Head Start director in Arkansas, I understand the value this program provides our children,” U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., said in a statement provided by his spokesman. “It is unacceptable that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources chooses waste over kids by refusing to cut wasteful spending and instead shifting the burden to preschool kids.”
Head Start is a federal program that helps preschool children from low-income families prepare for kindergarten with services that focus on education, health, nutrition, and social and emotional development, according to the national Office of Head Start. A related program, Early Head Start, focuses on pregnant women, infants and toddlers.
The programs are administered through the federal Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Office of Head Start operates on an annual budget of about $8.1 billion, with the 5 percent cut reducing funding by about $405,000, said Kenneth Wolfe, spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families. Wolfe said the number of slots affected by sequestration likely will be lower than the estimate from the White House. The White House estimate is based on Head Start organizations achieving budget reductions by eliminating slots for children.
Instead, Head Start organizations are using different approaches to reduce budgets, Wolfe said.
ENDING SERVICES
In Arkansas, 22 agencies oversee Early Head Start programs for 1,000 children and Head Start programs for 10,000 children in Arkansas, said Jacqualine Dedman, director of the Arkansas Head Start State Collaboration Office in Little Rock.
Many agencies closed programs early for the 2012-13 school year, have staff on furlough and are cutting back spending on supplies, travel and training, Dedman said. They are reducing staffing by combining positions and job duties.
Agency directors are working to maintain services for as many children as possible, Dedman said. Some programs are seeking grants to offset some of the loss in federal funding.
“They won’t be able to pick up any new children,” Dedman said.
They are required to maintain high standards of quality required by the federal government, Dedman said.
A cut of $333,946 out of a budget of $6.33 million is prompting the Families and Children Together Head Start/ Early Head Start based in El Dorado to end home-based services for 81 children, said Brenda Holder, Head Start director. Other budget reduction plans include the elimination of eight full-time positions and five part-time positions.
“It’s going to hurt,” Holder said. “It’s not one of those things you’re going to be able to tell in the next year or two or three. Every time there’s a child who’s not going to get services, that child’s not going to enter school quite as ready.”
The agency has provided services for more than 800 children, but now will serve a little more than 700 children in Calhoun, Columbia, Dallas, Ouachita and Union counties,she said. Officials weighed whether to close centers or shift the cuts to home-based services for families who aren’t able to get their children to a center, Holder said.
“There are several centers where we are the only preschool in town,” Holder said. “If we closed a center there, the parents would have no preschool for their children.” ‘MORE WITH LESS’
Agencies in Northwest Arkansas are working with their governing boards on making decisions for 2013-14.
Northwest Arkansas Head Start Human Services anticipates cutting enrollment by at least 75 children, said Jerry Adair, Head Start director. The agency oversees Head Start programs for 558 children in Benton, Carroll and Madison counties. The agency is cutting about $190,000 out of a $3.7 million budget.
“It’s a matter of money,” he said. “There has to be money to provide the services.”
Ozark Opportunities, which serves 481 children in six counties in Northwest and north-central Arkansas, will close one of two classrooms in Marshall, which will reduce space for children by 10 slots, said Toby Atkinson, executive director. The agency is cutting $138,532 from a budget of $2.63 million.
With closing the classroom in Marshall, “We tried to lessen that blow by making sure there were other providers,” Atkinson said.
“We’re doing our best to keep the children insulated with the cuts,” he said. “We’re digging into anything we have, reallocating materials. It’s the staff that are having to do more with less. We’re keeping that quality high for children and families.”
In central Arkansas, the Community Services Office of Hot Springs/Garland County is managing a cut of about $70,732 out of a budget of $1.34 million with a 2 percent pay cut for all employees, a reduction in spending for supplies and by postponing planned upgrades of equipment, said Mary Jean Daniel, Head Start director. The organization serves 223 children in Head Start.
“It’s not sustainable in the long-run,” Daniel said. “There’s no cushion. We need more money next year or we’re going to have to relook at everything.” STATE RESOURCES
A mix of federal and state programs provides education for young children from low-income families in Arkansas.
“The sequestration really is hitting all programs with young children,” said Tonya Russell, director of the division of child care and early childhood education for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. “We’re going to be serving fewer children.”
Head Start and Early Head Start accept children from families earning at or slightly more than the federal poverty limit, $15,510 or less for a family of two or $23,550 or less for a family of four.
A larger state program potentially could make room for some children who will no longer be served by the two federal programs, but the state pre-kindergarten program also has concerns over funding, Russell said.
State lawmakers have appropriated $111 million annually since 2007 for the Arkansas Better Chance program, which has provided services for about 25,000 children in families earning up to 200 percent, or $47,100 for a family of four, of the federal poverty limit, Russell said. Operating costs rise each year, however, and officials with the state pre-kindergarten program have to trim budgets to pay the rising costs of rent, utilities, insurance, salaries and food.
Russell said her division will determine in July the number of slots the Arkansas Better Chance program will cover forthe 2013-14 school year.
If families are not able to access Head Start, they should apply for a spot in the Arkansas Better Chance program, Russell said.
Her division encourages child-care officials to maximize state and federal resources for families with children, so that Head Start programs serve the poorest families and the Arkansas Better Chance serving families who earn too much to qualify for Head Start.
With some Head Start programs cutting slots and no new money to expand Arkansas Better Chance, even more children eligible to receive services will not have access to them next school year, Russell said. The state program reaches about 60 percent of the children eligible for services.
“It is obviously a concern when we have programs having to make cuts,” Russell said. “These children are in high quality programs. If that limits their access to a high quality comprehensive program and their ability to affect the achievement gap … it creates economic deficiencies for all of us.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 06/09/2013