Devin Browne
A Latina student in school.
Budget cuts launched in March, after the failure of the federal government to agree on a plan to balance budget cuts with new revenue, are just now beginning to hit the federal Head Start program. It provides childcare and early education to low-income families, many of whom are minority.
Head Start suffered a 5.7 percent, or $400 million, cut in revenues nationwide. According to the National Head Start Association, quoted by NPQ or Non-Profit Quarterly, approximately 60,000 children will be cut from the program nationwide. The cut is the deepest in dollar terms since Head Start was created in 1965.
Steve Bell is the senior director of the Bipartisan Policy Center. He warns the cuts, impacting early education access for families that would not be able to send their children to preschool or kindergarden without the program, will have a long-term impact across society:
This is not like a government shutdown. This is much more insidious because it’s slower, it’s cumulative, and it’s more diffuse.
And the impact is felt disproportionately by Latino families in America. According to the Washington Post, Latinos make up 30 percent of the U.S. population who use federal support programs such as housing subsidies and early education programs. About 23,000 Latino children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years have been dropped from the program since sequestration cuts began.
In California last year close to 112,000 children participated in Head Start programs located in every county in the state. Many counties are now looking at cutting back on enrollment, laying off staff, closing facilities, shortening schedules and salaries. Statewide numbers are not known, but a few examples of cutbacks:
Long Beach Unified: 178 students cut
Ventura County: 72 students
Fresno County: 76 students
Los Angeles County: 900 students
San Diego’s Head Start program has not responded to our requests for information, but the program, run by the local Neighborhood House Association, has long been known for it’s lean budgets and small staff.
In Arizona, KJZZ reportsthat schools and charities across the state will see a 6 percent cut in funding. Larry Campbell directs Catholic Charities West Side Head Start based in Surprise. He said they will reduce enrollment by 128 students and eliminate ten teaching positions:
At Head Start we are serving at-risk families living at poverty level or below. So, these are families that really need the program, they’re already behind, there’s already a large learning gap and the longer that gap goes without intervention the harder it is to catch up.
New Mexico faces some of the most daunting challenges of any state with only 40 percent of 3-and-4-year-olds currently enrolled in preschool programs. According to KUNM, Presbyterian Medical Services will shut down several of the 12 Head Start programs they run in Northern New Mexico. Facing a total state budget cut of more than $700,000, teacher layoffs and staff furloughs are inevitable.