Howard County's summer Head Start program for children about to begin kindergarten is fighting to keep operating despite major cuts in state funding.
Bita Dayhoff, director of the county's Community Action Council, the private nonprofit group that runs the preschool program, said the state's budget problems have led to reductions of more than half the $103,000 in state money the program received in fiscal 2009. That amount dropped to $55,000 in fiscal 2010 and fell again to $44,000 in the fiscal year that began Thursday, she said. The entire summer enrichment program budget was $158,800, she said.
In response, Head Start officials dropped portions of the summer activities that require private contractors, tried to boost donations from other sources and plan to cut the program from seven weeks to five next summer, though enrollment is to stay at 144 children. The summer program runs six hours a day, from June 8 to July 23 this year, and is designed to aid the 4- and 5-year-old Head Start students scheduled to enter public school in August.
Head Start serves preschool-age children from lower-income homes. Howard County's Head Start program serves 264 children during the school year in three locations: in Ellicott City; in the former Harriet Tubman school building next to Atholton High School; and in the Dasher Green Head Start building next to Cradlerock School in Columbia.
"We're completely committed to serving the children," Dayhoff said. "We will do everything in our power to continue the program." Like other nonprofits, however, Head Start has to cope with shrinking financial support. Statewide, funding for Head Start was reduced from $3 million to $1.8 million this fiscal year, officials said.
"All of our programs are grant-funded" and therefore at risk, Dayhoff said.
The summer enrichment program began with 36 children in 2001, and officials have expanded it based on the idea that children ready to enter kindergarten will do better after a summer's continuation of learning.
"They call it the summer slide," Dayhoff said, "That's what we're fighting against."
The idea, she said, is to boost children who need it the most, and have them begin school on a more equal footing with other students. Tests have shown higher percentages of Head Start students ready for learning after participating in the summer program, Head Start officials said. School officials have also said that the program helps children do better once they start public school.
"Children have transitions, and one of the mot important transitions is to kindergarten. To me it's extremely important," said Linda Behsudi, Howard Head Start's director. "We want to get them as ready as we can get them."
The preparation includes making sure children know their colors and letters, improving language and social skills and learning to follow directions. Myrtice Hoskin, the Dasher Green center director, said the students also take field trips to places in Howard County such as Days End Horse Rescue Farm in Woodbine and Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia. On hot days they play water games behind the building, since trips to nearby Dasher Green swimming pool owned by the Columbia Association are too expensive.
Susan Ault, 49, of Sykesville, brought her grandson, Michael Wiley, 4, to Dasher Green on Wednesday. "Their program is great," she said. "It's still an educational program, but they have more fun in the summer program."
But despite more than $16,000 in cash contributions from the Ellicott City Sunrise Rotary Club, plus money from county Social Services and $5,000 from the Columbia Foundation, Dayhoff said paid services, like private physical exercise program specialists, speech and language therapists, and professional counseling have been cut to save money.
Sunrise Rotary President Joel Goodman said his club has supported Head Start for the past decade, but the 30 members don't expect to produce more than the $16,000 they raised this year. Its members also volunteer, reading to the children and helping in other ways.
"We can't pick up $55,000," he said. "We've been there right from the beginning. It's what we see as our first and foremost responsibility,"
State Sen. James N. Robey, an active club member, said the budget cuts are being shared across the spectrum of state-supported services and are unavoidable.
"Hopefully, if we get through this [fiscal] year, things will come back," he said. The summer sessions give children "that extra boost they need. It's critical, like a lot of other programs" suffering cuts, he said.
As she brought her 5-year-old daughter, Tamia Thomas, to the program Wednesday morning, Debra Williams said she values the experience for her shy little girl, who had dressed herself in shiny gold slippers and a sleek brown ruffled blouse to go with her beaded hair braids. Tamia likes to draw, Williams said.
"I love it. It's so helpful with how they treat the kids." As a college student who also works, Williams said the six-hour program also helps her care for Tamia until school starts in August.