Early Education Programs To Suffer Under Budget Woes
DAVIE (CBS4) - As the battle over the budgets wages in both the nation's capital and in Tallahassee, education funding appears to be on the chopping block. In addition to funds for general education, financial support for the federal Head Start and Florida's early education programs also appear to be in jeopardy.
During a visit to Crayons Child Care in Davie on Monday U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz said if the cuts are made some children would end up without early education classes.
"We know that by spending a little here now by helping parents afford to send their child to an early childhood education program, that more children will graduate from South Florida high schools," said Wasserman Schultz. "We need to make sure that we can out educate our competitors in this global economy, the way is to strike a balance. We need to make cuts but we need to do that in a smart way."
The owner of Crayons Child Care said if the cuts happened some of her teachers would lose their jobs.
"A good 35 percent of our kids in the center come from Family Central," said Giovannia Meza. "I question what would it be if there are no more funds for Family Central, no more funds for these children. Where will these children go to have the connections that we give them every single morning at our school. What's going to happen to our teachers who have a passion to teach them."
Melina Marcos, a single mother of six, said she would have to pull out three of her children from Crayons if the funding is cut.
"As of right now if it were cut I would immediately be unemployed if there was no child care because I can't afford to continue to pay for what the expense is. Even with Family Central there is still something to pay," said Marcos.
Statewide 9,148 Florida Head Start students will lose their funding on March 4th and be forced to drop-out of these early learning programs should cuts passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives advance, according to Wasserman Schultz. Head Start is a national, federally-funded program that provides free comprehensive services for from low-income preschool children.
In Broward County, more than 16 thousand children are currently on a wait-list for the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) program funds.
According to Wasserman Schultz, research has shown that the early childhood services provided by the VPK and Head Start programs have not only narrowed the achievement gap, they've also helped reduce crime and delinquency rates.
