Head Start Program Prepares for Cuts
By: Dustin Barnes
Updated: March 6, 2013
"Tell me about your teacher?" Dustin asked London Beaird.
"She reads books all the time," London said.
But the one lesson too complicated to register right now: How fewer dollars from Washington will disrupt instruction time.
"We're preparing them for the world and we're preparing their families in the world," Jennifer Welter, the center's early childhood director said.
Welter said the regional Head Start program, which serves more than 800 students, will lose $100,000 dollars in federal funding if President Obama and Congressional leaders don't agree on a budget.
For the school's four-year-olds, that could affect the length of the school year, transportation, and meals.
"It's not just the lives of the children, but the lives of the family that we help as well," Welter said.
The cuts not only affect the Head Start program, but they greatly impact the energy assistance program in which many of the families of the students qualify."
As leaders await word from Washington, the energetic youngsters will continue learning lifelong skills like reading, where, in this case, their teacher hopes for a happy ending.
