Layoffs could come with Head Start federal grant funding
Students in the Head Start program at Ann Arbor Preschool and Family Center sit in their cubbies at the end of the school day in 2006. The Head Start program was administered by Washtenaw County until this year.
File photo | AnnArbor.com
A resolution will come before the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners Wednesday night that, if approved, would result in a major overhaul in the leadership structure and elimination of several positions.
The resolution itself is a $4.55 million grant application to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund the majority of the program in the 2012-13 school year.
Head Start is a national program that focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty through educational, health, nutrition, social, emotional and cognitive services.
It provides preschool to eligible children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old, as well as their families. In Washtenaw County, Head Start will serve 561 children in the 2012-13 school year.
The county has administered the Head Start program for the past 47 years, and decided in November 2011 that it could no longer afford the program. The commissioners then authorized the transfer of the program back to the federal government.
The county is still overseeing the program for the 12-13 year while the government seeks a longstanding administrator for Washtenaw County.
County Administrator Verna McDaniel said the Washtenaw Intermediate School District has expressed interest in submitting a proposal for the program, and she would support the move.
“We feel the educational system could handle the program and take it to the next level,” McDaniel said.
The proposed 2012-13 $4.55 million program budget is composed of $4.028 million of federal revenue, $128,500 in USDA funds and $394,563 of in-kind contributions from the school systems the program serves and the county.
The county will also have to pay $355,056 in indirect costs to keep the program operational in the 2012-13 school year, McDaniel said.
The resolution before the commissioners Wednesday night calls for the elimination of 7.8 full-time-equivalent positions during the 2012-13 school year. The positions would mostly be made up of rearranging staff and unfilled positions.
In the rearrangement, 2.3 of the full-time equivalent positions are currently filled and three people would be affected, according to a memo from Cassandra Sheriff, interim director for Head Start, to McDaniel.
“It was decided that we could hang onto it for a year if we could bring the cost down,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the majority of the layoffs would come from lower-budgeted employees.
The staff was downsized to keep Head Start’s budget balanced, McDaniel said, a move that was necessary to keep the county’s general fund on an even keel.
If the commissioners approve the resolution, teaching staff in each room will be reduced from three to two.
Currently, one lead teacher and two assistants work in classrooms. Program standards only require one lead teacher and one assistant as long as a set of family service workers and assistant teachers float between classrooms.
The same number of children will be served through the program as previous years.
Administrative positions also will be consolidated or eliminated.
“There are another several other non-union positions that we held vacant, and tried to not impact the bargaining unit the best we could,” McDaniel said.
The program director position was eliminated after the former director Pat Horne McGee retired, McDaniel said.
Sheriff has been serving as the interim director, and will continue in that role, McDaniel said.
Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.
Comments
tom swift jr.
Thu, Jul 12, 2012 : 12:32 a.m.
Reducing the funding, staffing, and scope of programs like Head Start is a move that we will only pay for down the road. The impact of early intervention for at-risk children is a fact, it makes a difference. The cost of education as compared to the cost of incarceration is a bargin. We no longer value our children, and we will come to regret that decision.
Top Cat
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 5:09 p.m.
Who stuffed the kids in the lockers for the picture?
harry
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 4:58 p.m.
"Head Start is a national program that focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty through educational, health, nutrition, social, emotional and cognitive services" Couldn't they rewrite this statement a little better and not so much attacking the parents of these children.
Michigan Man
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 4:40 p.m.
No surprise here. Being dependent upon the Federal Government has no future, no upside and puts one in a position of slavery to the MAN! Really best if all people can jump through the window of individual opportunity to seize success in life. Dependency on the Federal Government for happiness is false nectar. Do not drink from that cup of false hope.
Mike
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 2:01 p.m.
We're coming to the end of the free spending ways of the past. Time to pay the tab, the credit card has been used for too long. Tax payers can't stomach any more taxes and the federal government borrows 40% of every dollar it spends. Why is this so hard to understand? All of these intelligent people in Ann Arbor and none seem to be able to figure this out...........Look at Greece, Spain, and France for a glimpse into our no-so-distant future.
Kathleen Kosobud
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 1:47 p.m.
What is the ratio of staff to children? What does research say about the effects of staff reduction on children in Head Start? What are the social consequences of less support to children who are at high risk of being "behind" at the start of kindergarten? I hope that educationally sound (as opposed to fiscally expedient) decisions will be made. I am not in favor of reducing services to vulnerable populations--children and families in poverty. Let us make every effort to see a swift transfer of control to an educational service body such as WISD, where decisions will be based on the impact that staff reductions have on the children.
Madeleine Borthwick
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 1:17 p.m.
Alan, I'm not surprised either but it continues to "cheese" me off. as hokey as it sounds, it is nonetheless true that our children are our most important resource and we owe them nothing less than our best efforts to prepare them for life after the rest of us are pushing up the daisies!!! too bad the powers-that-be are, as always, as usual, attempting to balance the budget on the backs of those of us least able to afford it. may our children forgive us.
jns131
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 1:12 p.m.
Again, I say,, more school bus transportation cuts. Going to be fun when no buses exist in AAPS except for special needs. Good luck with the cuts.
Alan Goldsmith
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 10:24 a.m.
"McDaniel said the majority of the layoffs would come from lower-budgeted employees." Surprise.
KeepingItReal
Wed, Jul 11, 2012 : 2:12 p.m.
Alan reaction exactly. They should at some of the higher level positions. Oftentimes, the most productive and quality work comes from the lower level employees especially in the county.