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Poor working families of some 120 infants and toddlers in theKansas City area are about to find out they’re losingtheir state-funded child care. /p p One of thelast-moment deals in the Missouri legislature’s budgetbattle begins to hurt this week. /p p People in areaagencies that distribute the state’s Early Head Startfunds essentially will be deciding in the next few days who willkeep their spots in the free programs and who won’tbeginning July 1. /p p “Talk about beingSolomon,” said Jim Caccamo, the director of earlylearning at the Mid-America Regional Council. “Whichkids do you pick out? (The providers) will have criteria, but,still, how’d you like to be the one to tell thatfamily?” /p p Statewide, state funding forEarly Head Start programs was cut nearly in half, from $5.67million to $2.65 million. In the Kansas City area, the funding willfall from $1.8 million to $865,000, Caccamosaid. /p p Missouri’s Department of SocialServices on Thursday distributed new contracts for providers underthe reduced funding that cut services from the Family Conservancyand the Independence School District. /p p The FamilyConservancy’s Early Head Start programs losing fundsinclude Operation Breakthrough and the early childhood program atSt. Mark Union Church in Kansas City, plus several home-basedproviders. /p p They will be losing 119 of 222“slots,” pushing many low-income familiesinto difficult situations, said Dean Olson, vice president forprogramming at the Family Conservancy. /p p “Politics is all overthis,” Olson said. “I know they (legislators)have difficult decisions to make, but there are going to be a lotof unintended consequences.” /p p Earlychildhood programming, though underfunded, had escaped the carouselof state cuts in recent years. But Jeremy LaFaver, a lobbyist forearly childhood interests, said they couldn’t escapelawmakers’ last-week machinations in2012. /p p Governor Jay Nixon and the House ofRepresentatives had offered a budget that avoided many of the cuts.It relied on an amnesty program for delinquent taxpayers that wouldhave generated an estimated $70 million in revenue, said Rep. RyanSilvey, a Kansas City, North, Republican. But the Senate rejectedthe tax amnesty plan and submitted a budget with sharpercuts. /p p Silvey chaired a joint conference committeethat hammered out a compromise budget between the House and Senateon the Wednesday before the session ended May 18. He favored thetax amnesty plan. Without it, he said, the committee was forcedinto hard decisions, including the cuts to Early HeadStart. /p p “It was a matter of trying tofind priorities for both of us,” he said. “Itwas important to me we did the best that wecould.” /p p The cuts come as effortsthroughout the nation, including Kansas City’s Turn thePage KC early reading program, emphasize the importance of helpingchildren. In particular, they focus on efforts to preparedisadvantaged children to start their school years ready tolearn. /p p “This is the most formativeyears for these kids,” said Sister Berta Sailer, aco-founder of Operation Breakthrough. “This allows womenwho have been on welfare to get a job and have their kids takencare of. There is a huge need forthis.” /p p Olson fears that a poor familythat abruptly has to figure out how to pay for child care will lookto unregulated providers. /p p Missouri law allowsanyone to provide care in their home, without being licensed, forup to four children — in addition to any childrenrelated to the provider. /p p “A majorconcern with parents who lose care is where are they going togo?” Olson said. “In unregulated care thereare no inspections, no training.” I am an expert from weldedheatexchanger.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Tranter Heat Exchangers , China Steam Heat Exchanger, Welded Plate Heat Exchangers,and more.
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