More than 50% of the state’s Head Start early learning programs are at risk of losing thousands of dollars worth of federal funds due to insufficient enrollment.
The possibility of losing Head Start funding comes as the state is facing an issue with child care and long wait lists and increasing costs that are burdening Alaska families.
Head Start is federally funded program that offers preschool education at no cost mostly to families with low incomes as well as children in foster care and those who have disabilities.
“We are not only working with the children, but also with families as well, which is why we are Head Start different,” said Anne Shade, director for child development for Bristol Bay Native Association. “Head Start works to assist families in getting on the right track, and learn to advocate for their child and navigate the special-education system in case they require it, and set goals for the family.”
Bristol Bay Native Association is one of 17 Head Start grantees in Alaska. The program provides funding for the total of 80 children, starting from the hub community in Dillingham up to villages like Togiak, New Stuyahok and Manakotak.
However, at the moment there is only personnel to fill 53 places. Its federal grant is in danger. in a note BBNA received towards closing of May officials from federal Office of Head Start gave the program one year to boost enrollment otherwise, it could be deprived of $594,502 federal funds.
“It could be a major stumbling block for it,” Shade said. “We’ve received an $1.6 million Head Start grant. However, it’s not as if you could eliminate five or ten children because you must take a whole class off in order to save cost. Each classroom costs around 100 grand per year.”
The total number of officials from representatives of the Alaska Head Start Association say federal officials have informed the eight Head Start programs that they could lose up to $12.5 million in funding due to underenrollment.
Shade says BBNA’s greatest problem is staffing. As long as it doesn’t have more employees, it won’t be able to enroll more children because there’s an obligation to ratio.
“Each of our classrooms contains three people and we have 16 students,” Shade said. “So when I don’t have enough people in my classroom, I’m not able to provide for children.”
She also said it’s been tough to compete with the wages of other industries.
“Somebody was harmed by Bailey’s Furniture. We’ve lost customers in the past to Starbucks,” Shade said. “They’re all making more per hour than we pay. The work is tough, Head Start is hard.”
In addition, some believe there are obstacles to entry, which make obtaining a job to run Head Start programs difficult.
Francine Cachucha is the director of early Childhood Education at the Fairbanks Native Association, another Head Start grantee that is currently underenrolled by 53 percent. The program is available to families living who live in Fairbanks and also North Pole, Ester and Salcha.
The program’s pay is competitive, there have been problems with applicants who didn’t pass drug tests. Furthermore, she added there’s a huge backlog of background checks at both the national and state levels, which impedes the process of hiring.
“When I rang to ask questions, they replied”Yes, we’re down staff, just like you guys.'” Cachucha said.
A spokesperson for the State Department of Health said there are currently no background checks applications in the state for Head Start.
Cachucha told me that she was told that her Head Start program has a waiting list of students who want to join, once they have more applicants.
The school was informed by the school in January, that they might be unable to secure more than three million dollars of federal funds due to low enrollment. Cachucha explained that the loss in funding could have an impact on the costs of buildings and salaries, and could cause the closing of schools. She is also concerned that a continuous reduction in Head Start places could make parents choose to send their children to schools that cost more.
“It’s extremely costly. It’s about $700 or more per month for families with children,” Cachucha said. “So families can’t pay for child care.”
Other Head Start programs that are at risk of losing federal funding because of insufficient enrollment include CCS Early Learning Center in Wasilla, ThrivAlaska in Fairbanks, Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Metlakatla, Kawerak, RurAL CAP, Tanana Chiefs Conference and Tlingit & Haida.
Head Start program managers said they’d hoped to receive an increase in funding from the state this year, so that they could raise their salaries to assist with hiring, and later open more child care spaces for children when they have more employees.
In the past, lawmakers were able to allocate the additional sum of $5 million for Head Start, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed some of the funds, cutting the amount by $1.5 million. The federal government had notified Head Start programs about the insufficient enrollment prior to the governor’s decision to veto.
Shade with BBNA that the federal government is required to provide an amount equal to 20% of funds from non-federal sources and states like Alaska has covered the cost for many years.
“Over the years, the funding has been flat the percentage of funding has decreased to around 12 percent at present,” Shade said. If we had be given an additional $5 million, it would have covered everyone’s non-federal portion.”
At present, Shade said she’s hopeful that Dunleavy’s task force for child care will be able to address issues. The next meeting will be on July 26.
