Families work to find alternate programs for local three-year olds
(Seguin) — After just over two months, a group of 3-year-olds is having to say goodbye to school. The Community Council of South-Central Texas, which operates the Head Start Program in Seguin and neighboring communities, recently had to announce to the parents of one of its classes in Seguin that due to funding cuts by the federally operated Head Start office, it was forced to close one of its classrooms located in the center on North Austin Street.
CCSCT Executive Director Bobby Deike says the funding cuts reportedly resulted from the Head Start Office’s decision to change the enrollment number it was willing to fund.
“After we enrolled children for the new school year, we had enrolled 83 children for Head Start both here in Seguin and our New Braunfels Center, our New Braunfels ISD agreement at Lonestar Early Childhood and at our new ISD agreement with Navarro ISD. So, we had a total of 83. On Sept. 9, we received a formal letter from the office of Head Start informing us that they were reducing our enrollment to 69 slots and along with that, CCSCT would sustain a large cut in funding because of the reduction,” said Deike.
Deike says this news, which impacted its pre-school classroom, was a complete shock to his office. He says there was no warning from the federal office in any way.
“We attended a number of national conferences where the federal office of Head Start out of Washington D.C. was in attendance and each presentation that that individual made – he stated that Head Start programs would not be affected by a reduction in funding. So, we were really blindsided by this letter on Sept. 9 that notified us that not only was the number of funded slots being reduced but also our funding was going to be reduced and so, that is why we had to make the decision we made.
Unfortunately, that was the decision we had to make,” said Deike.
Now although the families of these 15 children are being forced to make alternate plans, Deike says the CCSCT wasted no time and moved forward with an appeal on Sept. 26. However, he says the results of that appeal won’t be decided on until 90 days from that date.
“We have taken the steps to attempt to reverse some of the decisions that the office of Head Start has made and so, now we are just having to wait until the office of Head Start meets their timeline to respond, hold the hearing and then hopefully make a decision to reinstate the slots and reinstate the funding so we can serve these children,” said Deike.
Meanwhile, Deike says this decision to close one of its classrooms has not been easy.
“It’s very concerning to us that we had to displace families from the Head Start Program. The office of Head Start assured us that that was not their intent that any families would be displaced from the program so that is what we have been operating off of. It causes a negative effect for these families that CCSCT in no way wanted to have to deliver this news to the families. The children had acclimated to their classroom and to their teachers and to the center and looked forward to coming to the center every day to be with their friends and so it is quite upsetting that we are put in this situation by the office of Head Start to have to make this decision at the local level,” said Deike.
Since announcing its decision, the CCSCT says it has made itself available to support families during this transition by identifying alternative programs and resources.
The local classroom officially closes on Oct. 31.