Funding cut hits Sisters Head Start

The Sisters Head Start Center has closed down in the wake of a $150,000 cut in state funding to the early childhood development program.

Closing the center sited at Little Cloverdale Preschool for this year was the only viable option to absorb the cut in the $2.2-million program, according to Sharon Miller, executive director of the Central Oregon Action Agency Network (COCAAN).

COCAAN administers the regional Head Start program, serving Crook and Deschutes counties. The free program is funded through state and federal grants.

The decision did not sit well with Jacki Shepardson, the Sisters representative on the Head Start Policy Council. She was the only member of the 14-member council who voted against the closure.

"We did not receive alternative methods to deal with this budget problem," she said.

She acknowledged that closing the site makes sense from a strictly budgetary point of view. But she worries about the effect it will have on families and the long-term viability of Head Start in Sisters.

"If you're just looking at the numbers, yeah, (closing the site) is smart," she said.

But in her view, a one-year closure spells doom for the program.

"You should never cut a site," she said. "They don't re-open."

Miller said that closing the site, eliminating staff positions, was the only realistic way to make up the cuts. An across-the-board cut, cutting back all programs a little, wouldn't suffice, she said.

Miller said the eight to 11 families that would qualify for the program from Sisters could be served by bussing them to Redmond; by creating a "home-based" program; or through partnership with an existing pre-school or the Sisters School District.

The latter option may be the best long-term possibility, according to Miller.

The Head Start program provides early childhood development services as well as pre-school education. Head Start's family advocates visit each student's home twice a month during the semester to assist families in meeting goals.

They direct families to free medical check-ups, volunteer opportunities, parenting classes, job skills and health and nutrition services.

The program has always had trouble maintaining itself in Sisters. While the families that are served by the program really need it, there have never been enough income-qualified families to fill a site with the desired 18 children.

"Over the last few years, we've been doing it with over-income children," Miller said. "We've just tried to take families that applied that we thought could use the program."

Program rules allow registration of 10 percent "over-income" children. Region- wide, the program served 284 children last year, which allows for 29 to register as "over-income."

Shepardson acknowledges that Sisters has always had trouble filling the site, but she noted that the closure decision was based on 2000 census data, which may not be accurate in the current economic climate.

More children may actually be income-qualified in Sisters than before, she believes.

The staff at Sisters Head Start may not lose their jobs due to the cut. According to Miller, "there are five to eight staff people who are not coming back next year" and the Sisters teachers and Center Director Laura Duran may have the opportunity to fill other open positions.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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