Strapped by sequester, Head Starts drop kids

[proud2BlibKansan]

INDIANAPOLIS – At least two Indiana Head Start programs have resorted to a random drawing to determine which three-dozen preschool students will be removed from the education program for low-income families, a move officials said was necessary to limit the impact of mandatory across-the-board federal spending cuts.

Programs in Columbus and Franklin are losing two classrooms, meaning 36 children won’t be able to return after Friday. Last week, a lottery drawing determined which children would remain in the Columbus program, and Franklin had scheduled its lottery for Tuesday night.

Head Start funding is awarded at different times of the year for different programs, so some that already have begun receiving money for 2013 are hurrying to slash budgets in preparation for a 5 percent cut to their overall yearly funding. Doing so sooner rather than later means the cuts are spread out over a longer period of time.

“We wanted to be proactive because the budget cuts are retroactive for a program year,” said Jeremy Wells, associate director of children’s services for Head Start in Columbus and Franklin. “As of right now, we’re overspent.

more . . . http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20130313/NEWS07/303139938/1067

[liberal_at_heart]

1. k&r. we cannot forget the casualties of the sequester