Head Start is an early childhood education program that serves low-income and at-risk families and families that have children with disabilities. The recent sequestration is requiring Head Start programs across the state to cut their funding by 5.3 percent and that could mean big changes to the services it provides. Barbara Haxton is the Executive Director of the Ohio Head Start Association. She says that next year the Miami Valley could lose as many as 300 slots for children in local Head Start programs.
“It’s kind of a first time for everybody and programs are challenged to find ways to make these cuts and it will primarily be in losing slots for children.”
Haxton adds that families could feel the cuts as early as this year. Head Start is in negotiations with regional offices on how they will be implemented. She says it is likely that programs will have to end early this spring and start late in the fall.