Parents enrolling their kids in Peoria's Head Start programs got to meet their teachers this week. 670 pre-k students are enrolled at Trewyn, Manual, Sterling and Webster. But this year, 80 kids are on the waiting list.
Head Start Director Sandra Burke says recent state cuts to childcare assistance leave limited options to refer families who can't make it into the program.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it," Burk said. "We’ve gone backwards in the progress we had made in early childhood education. It’s going to take us a long time to recover from this, if we ever recover.”
Head Start is a federally-funded community based program for low-income families. Burke says the state cuts to childcare are hurting its ability to partner with other programs or to refer clients to resources, like disability services.
“Early childhood works, research supports that it works, but we’re losing ground," Burke said. "We’re doing our families and our kids and our communities a disservice by doing what we already know works.”
Burke cited the University of Chicago's Perry Preschool Project study that found the government saves seven dollars for every public dollar spent on early childhood programs. The study says the money would otherwise go towards social welfare or the criminal justice system.