Published: July 30, 2009 07:50 pm      

Early childhood programs facing cuts

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Twelve pre-kindergarten sites in Jefferson County which are funded through the Regional Office of Education will be reduced as a result of the Illinois State Board of Education cuts.

“There will definitely be a reduction,” Jefferson-Hamilton Counties Regional Superintendent Bryan Cross said. “A large part of the grant goes to salaries for teachers, and it’s a 1/3 cut. ... We’re trying to find a way to keep as many people as we can. ... We’re still working on the budget, but there will also be a reduction at the sites of children served.”

The ROE funds pre-kindergarten programs at its own facility on Illinois Route 37, Belle Rive Grade School, Bethel Grade School, Bluford Grade School, Field Grade School, Ina Grade School, Happy Time Daycare, Rome Grade School, St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Child Development Center, Summersville Grade School, Waltonville Grade School and Woodlawn Grade School.

Unlike school districts, the ROE doesn’t have staff on a tenure track and can reduce force when needed, Cross said.

“Each site has at least one teacher and a lot have an aide as well,” Cross said. “We can serve 10 children with a teacher and these cuts may affect the aide positions as well. We’re crunching the numbers now, but there’s just not that much extra in the budget.”

In dollar figures, the 1/3 cut to the funding is about $300,000.

“We know there will be about a 20 percent reduction in the number of children we will be able to serve,” Cross added. “Normally by now, we would have sent a letter to parents with children in the program letting them know about the program hours, the classes and orientation, that sort of thing. We’re drafting a letter now explaining what sites will be open and what classes will be held.”

Cross explained many of the sites have a morning class and an afternoon class. Part of the reductions at this time will mean the elimination of the afternoon class.

“When you sit down and actually see how it will affect the people, that’s the hard part,” Cross said.

Carol Whipple, the director of the St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Child Development Center, said if the pre-k funding site gets cut, the center will have it’s own pre-kindergarten.

“We would lose one teacher, and cut the number of children we serve in half,” Whipple said. “Luckily, we’re a day care, which is our saving grace if we do get cut, but that’s half the children, and unfortunately, it’s our younger ones in the developmental stages that can use the program the most.”