Parents Losing Jobs a Hidden Cost to U.S. Head Start Budget Cuts

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-12/parents-losing-jobs-a-hidden-cost-to-u-s-head-start-budget-cuts.html

A U.S. preschool program for low-income families allowed single mother Kelly Burford to take a $7.25-an-hour job as a department store clerk in Maryland. Her son, Bradyn, 2, spent the day with friends listening to stories, singing and drawing pictures -- at no cost to Burford.

That ended in June, when Bradyn’s school in Taneytown, seventy miles north of Washington, closed after losing $103,000 because of automatic government spending cuts. Without support from the federal Head Start program, Burford, 35, said she had to quit her job and has seen her son’s progress slip.

“The teachers were really good -- he was learning a lot,” she said. “Now, he’s fallen back.”

While President Barack Obama advocates expanded education for all children under five, the budget deal he cut with Republicans in Congress is throwing poor children out of existing programs. The across-the-board reductions, made through a process known as sequestration, removed about $400 million from Head Start this year, the deepest cut in dollar terms since its 1965 creation.

[Egnever]

1. I would say that was totally predictable.

Cutting head start was never a good idea. Thinking congress could come to an agreement even in the face of draconian cuts wasn't really a good idea either. Not this congress anyway.

[adicortez]

2. $400 million from Head Start this year...

But 4 Trillion spent in fucking Iraq was no problem

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. kick