Burke loses more pre-K slots

Ninety-three fewer Burke County 4-year-olds will be able to attend pre-kindergarten programs this year.

The county’s North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten (NCPK), previously known as More At Four, lost 40 more slots following a judge’s ruling that charging a parent fee is unconstitutional.

This year the state legislature cut funding for NCPK by 20 percent, or almost $500,000. The legislature also transferred the program from the Department of Public Instruction to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The legislature originally planned to have participants in the program pay a co pay, or parent fee, to make up for the loss in funds, but Supreme Court Judge Howard Manning Jr. ruled in July that the state could not limit enrollment in pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk children, which included charging a parent fee.

Prior to Manning’s ruling, Burke County was facing a 53-spot elimination. Last year Burke County had 464 slots for 4-year-olds to attend pre-K. This year there will only be 371 slots available, and they are all already filled.

Joan Rovenstine, executive director for Burke County Smart Start, said the judge’s ruling is having a negative affect.

“To make up for not having enough money, to follow his order, we lost 40 more children, because the money is not in the bank,” Rovenstine said. “It has made it worse as far as being able to serve the children because there is no money there to pay for the slots. We lost $197,000 in parent fees, which equals 40 children.”

The fee would have been between six and 10 percent of the parent’s income. Rovenstine said this wouldn’t be too hard on most of the parents she deals with.

“If they make zero dollars then 10 percent of that is zero,” Rovenstine said. “I have parents calling me constantly asking if they can pay the parent fee and enroll their children, but it just doesn’t work like that. It really breaks your heart to know there were parents who wouldn’t have minded paying that fee but now can’t even get their child in the program.”

NCPK receives funds through the governor’s office and the Burke Partnership for Children (Smart Start) to provide opportunities for 4-year-olds to attend Burke County Public Schools’ pre-school programs at Chesterfield, Drexel, Forest Hill, George Hildebrand, Glen Alpine, Hildebran, Icard, Mountain Crest, Mull, Oak Hill, Ray Childers, Rutherford College, Salem, Valdese and W.A. Young elementary schools.

Rovenstine said 117 children in Burke County are eligible for the program but will not be served due to state funding.

“This isn’t our call, it’s the state’s call,” Rovenstine said. “They tell us how many slots they have available.”

Rovenstine said children were not the only ones the cuts affect. She said jobs will be lost, too. Each pre-kindergarten class has one teacher and one teaching assistant. Each class holds 18 children.

She said the organization used government funds to create classrooms that would meet state mandated requirements and that now the classrooms are sitting empty.

“We have the classrooms, we have the teachers and we have the children,” Rovenstine said. “But we don’t have the money. It is heartbreaking for everyone involved.”

She said with the classrooms and teachers Burke County has the capacity to educate 550 children.

Rovenstine said she hoped more slots would come available this year.

“I called Raleigh and begged for more slots,” Rovenstine said. “If some other county doesn’t need them, or doesn’t want to fool with them, I told them we wanted them. I don’t want parents to give up yet.”

Smart Start also saw a larger cut than anticipated this year, according to Rovenstine. She said the program was cut more than $100,000 more than she’d planned.

Smart Start is dedicated to helping children reach their potential and preparing them for a success in a global community, according to the organization’s website. Its goal is to provide a high-quality, comprehensive, accountable system of care and education for every child, beginning at birth.

The organization was cut by $599,212 and has gone from 20 programs to seven due to the cuts.

“I could expect we’d have some cuts because of the economy, but early childhood education got the biggest cut from anyone in the state and the economic impact of that is huge,” she said. “Last year we employed 40 people and now at least 15 have lost their jobs starting July 1, and we may have to cut more.”

Rovenstine said the options the legislature gave the parents in the county were appalling.

“The legislature must think it’s a throw-away population, like they should be staying home with their children,” She said, “but when you’re a single mom and you have no one to take care of your child, you have no options. I can’t even believe they think this is OK.”

Rovenstine said Burke County is among the top-five counties in the state to have their pre-kindergarten programs cut the most.