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Sunday, December 14, 2003
Rural exodus challenges Head Start program
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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Also on this page: Hidden Faces of Poverty | |||||
d=4,6 w%90WASHINGTON — The struggling Head Start program spanning Hancock and Washington counties shows the challenges in providing help to the rural poor at a time of rising demand for public assistance. Federal spending for the preschool program more than doubled statewide in the last decade, from $11.6 million in 1993 to $27.4 million last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Head Start in the two counties followed the state trend, growing from $860,816 to $1.7 million during that period. As welfare reform pushed more parents into jobs, the education program for children 3 to 5 years old expanded from a half-day program during the school year to a full-day, year-round program. Required teacher training also increased, making staffers more expensive to recruit and keep. But even as the number of children served during that period remained relatively stable, Head Start closed centers in Princeton and Eastport because the number of participants declined. Problems included parents with children moving away to look for jobs or simply having trouble commuting 40 miles to the program. In Harrington, for example, 34 Head Start children come from eight different towns. "The challenge is the rural nature of the counties we serve and the transportation issues," said Jeanie Mills, executive director of Child and Family Opportunities Inc. in Ellsworth, the local Head Start provider. "It's gotten outrageously expensive and prohibitive to provide transportation," she said. Her program serves about 250 children in two counties in regular Head Start for 3- to 5-year-olds, and another 32 infants and toddlers in a program called Early Head Start. The program for children at least 6 weeks old began at a center in Jonesport in January 2001, and now features centers in Machias and Ellsworth. Head Start provides children in low-income families with education and family evaluations. The children get developmental screening for special needs, medical and dental exams, and staff visits to the home to meet goals for the family, such as a parent getting a driver's license or going to college. Head Start programs nationwide have long been considered crucial to the development of children with impoverished and disadvantaged backgrounds. Head Start provides nutrition, medical screenings and education for young children that they otherwise may not get in their homes or communities. "We're looking at the whole child and the whole family," said Mills, who is also president of Maine's Head Start Directors Association. The problem is that Head Start needs at least 17 children in each class to justify the two staffers. The Princeton center closed in the summer of 2001 as the number of eligible children fell to 10. But the public school created a prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds, picking up some of the slack. The Eastport center closed in summer 1998 as the number of children declined while funding remained flat and health insurance costs for employees rose 37 percent in one year, Mills said. Meanwhile, participants consolidated in a remaining center in Eastport and others around Washington County. "There was a lack of service for a handful of children," she said. Welfare reform in 1996, however, greatly increased demand for the program. Head Start used to be four hours a day, four days a week for 34 weeks per year. Now the education and day care total 10 hours a day, five days a week year-round. Another additional cost grew out of the congressional requirement, adopted the last time the program was reauthorized, that half the teachers hold at least an associate degree in early childhood education. "We're paying tuition for people to go to college while they're working and then retain them so they don't move on to public schools," Mills said. The tenuous balancing act faltered this year in Calais. A licensed day-care provider who was a partner with Head Start went out of business. In September, Mills' group took over the center located at Washington County Community College to cover both Head Start and day care for 17 children. Being located at a community college is key because parents can take classes for better jobs. In January, the center plans to open eight slots for infants and toddlers. "We're trying to pick up the pieces," Mills said. Staff Writer Bart Jansen can be contacted at 202-488-1119 or at:
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