Otter to let Head Start funds stand

BOISE – Gov. Butch Otter won’t cut $1.5 million in federal welfare money from Head Start, his office says.

Otter had considered cutting the money from the preschool program for low-income children, but his office said earlier this week that it will remain in place through 2008, the Idaho Statesman reported Thursday.

However, $1.5 million in cuts to other early childhood education programs, including Parents as Teachers, remain.

In Idaho, there are 13 Head Start agencies that help more than 4,000 children.

Liz Dilley, director of the Friends of Children, which helps families in southwest Idaho’s Ada and Canyon counties, said cutting the Head Start money would have meant a loss of 30 spots for children.

“That would amount to basically losing two classrooms,” she said.

Head Start in Idaho receives about $34 million annually from the federal government. None of the money for Head Start in Idaho is from state taxes, instead coming from money resulting from welfare reform. Lawmakers in 1999 opted to send $1.5 million of that money to Head Start.

Otter said the state will receive less federal money in the next few years, which he said meant some of the programs had to be cut.

Otter plans to meet with Health and Welfare officials and state schools Superintendent Tom Luna next week to talk about which agency should pay for the programs.

Luna wants Head Start paid for through some other agency, possibly Health and Welfare, said his spokeswoman, Melissa McGrath.

In addition to the reduction in federal money, Otter has said the programs haven’t had enough accountability to determine whether they were effective.

But some Idaho lawmakers have questioned the timing of the cuts, coming six weeks after the Legislature adjourned.