Head Start faces cutbacks

Kootenai Valley Head Start, the preschool educational program that serves about 100 three- and four-year-olds in Libby and Troy, has made cuts because of the federally mandated sequestration.

Head Start Director Peggy Rayome said KVHS has been notified it will see a 4.89 percent cut in grant funding. The cuts, which amount to $33,510 for the current fiscal year, are retroactive to Feb. 1. However, as the agency ends its year on May 14, most of those cuts will come out of the second half of its budgetary year, which begins with fall classes Sept. 9.

“The National Head Start Association is trying to get it reversed, but we have to go ahead with the cuts,” Rayome said. “We heard some time ago the cuts may come, but it’s like everyone thought Congress would come together and we wouldn’t have to make these. I think that’s what bothers me the most. We sort of heard this was coming, but no one believed it would come to this.”

Rayome said during the 2012-13 school year, which ends this week, KVHS served 101 students. Because of sequestration, it will serve only 95 students. Rayome said the agency also has cut three positions and while it used to operate two buses, it will now only operate one.

“We have two buses — one 2001 and other is 2002. We’re going to only operate one bus, so instead of transporting about 65 children, we’re only going to be able to transport about 30 kids. Transportation next school (fall) will be limited to families who have no other forms of transportation.”

In addition to the transportation cuts, Rayome said some staffers will be cut at least one week of pay during the school year and administrators will be cut more. In addition to cutting a bus, KVHS will cut one home visitor, a bus driver and a bus assistant.

“All our managers are taking cuts,” Rayome said. “Our supervisors’ pay was cut immediately, and our food service people were cut eight hours. They used to work five days. Now they take Fridays off. Some of our managers get paid for 46 weeks of the year. Staffers get paid for 39 weeks. The rest of the year, they have to go on unemployment. We just don’t make that much here,” Rayome said of the 13 educators and one administrator.

Rayome said the average salary for a KVHS teacher is $17,226.

“Our first priority was to maintain a high quality of service to children and families and to ensure their health and safety,” Rayome said. 

KVHS Board Chairman Angela Pankey said making the cuts was not an easy decision.

“It was a very difficult decision to decide where we would make the cuts,” said Pankey who runs Love and Care Daycare. “It was hard to pick and choose. The hardest thing is making the bus cuts. How do we decide who gets bus service? That will be difficult. Luckily, administrators agreed to give up a week, which really helped. Because they did this, the cuts didn’t have to be as deep. Otherwise, we would have had to cut classes.”

Those cuts, Pankey said, were weeks off without pay.

“During the summer,  their job is administration, and they volunteered to do this to save programs.”