Jun 12, 2013 4 min read

A small group of Bentleyville parents with children enrolled in the local Head Start program are feeling the effects of federal budget sequestration.

“This isn’t just affecting my family, it is affecting everyone in this community,” said Hope Eddy, 28, of Bentleyville. “We’re just hoping to draw attention to the subject.”

Eddy’s children and those from five other families in the Bentleyville area have been forced to choose between moving to a classroom in Washington or switching to once-a-week, home-based programming.

“We heard about it on Thursday and then Monday were given official notice that the center was relocating,” Eddy said.

As a response to funding cuts, Head Start is closing the West Brownsville center, merging Bentleyville’s Head Start program with the center at Bentworth Elementary School and moving the Early Head Start program to the LeMoyne Center in Washington. The number of children who receive home-based services in Greene County also will be reduced by 12.

Darlene Bigler, chief executive officer of Community Action Southwest, the organization that oversees Head Start programs in Washington and Greene counties, said the relocation was due to a $300,000 cut in federal funding caused by sequestration. That money represented 5 percent of the organization’s budget.

“We are forced to reduce enrollment by 30 children,” Bigler said. “We looked at our expenses and came up with a plan that would impact the fewest families and children. The only way that could be restored is if the federal government was able to restore the sequestration cuts.”

CAS operates 21 classrooms in Washington County and six in Greene County. The classroom moving to the LeMoyne Center is the only Early Smart Start classroom in either county.

Cutbacks caused CAS to lay off staff members, and because of federal student-to-staff ratio requirements, centers had to reduce the number of students, as well.

Head Start is a federal program that offers pre-kindergarten education to children in low-income families. Early Head Start educates children from birth to 3 years old, while Head Start serves children ages 3 through 5. Home-based programs allow teachers to go to the homes of children and provide weekly educational services. Eddy said all four of her children used Head Start services. Her 4-year-old son would move to the Bentworth Elementary program, while one of her 1-year-old twins would have to be moved to the home-based program because Eddy could not drive him to Washington.

“It’s too far, and I am not able to do that,” Eddy said. A lot of parents in Bentleyville “are not able to travel to the (LeMoyne) center. So, it’s extremely inconvenient that this is the only one in our location.”

Eddy’s other 1-year-old was already using home-based services because of a learning disability, along with her 3-month-old son. She said a group of parents from the Bentleyville center were looking into what avenues were available to keep their local program open, but Bigler said the prospects did not look promising.

“I’m generally an eternal optimist, or I wouldn’t be in this business,” Bigler said, “but that’s not realistic. We generate every resource available to serve low-income families, but we just can’t replace substantial federal resources like that.”

Dan Hixenbaugh, a foster parent who used Bentleyville’s Head Start, said the program’s strict tardiness policy will mean he can’t take one child to Washington at the same time his older son, who just completed Head Start, will have to be at Bentworth Elementary Center for kindergarten.

“The center has done wonders for kids,” Hixenbaugh said. “But there’s no way I am going to be able to be at Bentworth Elementary and Washington at the same time.”

Hixenbaugh said his 2 year old would have to use home-based services so he could get the older child to class on time. While the home-based services would definitely help, they wouldn’t replace the daily regimen or interaction with other students.

He said his foster son would be devastated by the news.

“The first week of school for him, he was so excited,” Hixenbaugh said. “The kids love it down there, and they have helped them so much with socialization. It really helped them get up to the kindergarten standard to start school.”