Plans to expand seven prekindergarten programs for Montgomery County’s poor children will likely be delayed by at least one year as the modest decline in the number of the neediest is overwhelmed by an influx of the working poor.
In addition to the prekindergarten classes, an anticipated shortfall of more than $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education will also affect principals of poorer schools who receive money for additional staffing and other discretionary uses.
Conceding the decline is “clearly a concern” for the county, Chrisandra Richardson, the county’s director of academic support, focused on the academic success of the district’s poorer schools. “They’ve been very effective at making good decisions on how to use their funds, and we’ll continue to support them,” she said.
Although 10 central office positions related to the poor-schools program have been cut from next year’s budget, class-size limits in the early grades will not be affected, Richardson said, explaining that the initiative is not federally funded.
However, according to high-ranking leaders inside the schools who asked not to be named for fear of reprimand, staffing cuts have already begun.
The seven full-day Head Start classes were set to join 14 others currently operating as part of the district’s highly touted initiative to concentrate resources in early education for its poorest students.
Instead, the classes located in Gaithersburg, Germantown, Rockville, Silver Spring and Takoma Park will remain in their current half-day status.
According to U.S. Census Bureau data that are used to determine district allocations, 3.3 percent of Montgomery County families lived below the federal poverty guideline in 2005, compared with 3.7 percent in 2000.
School data since 2000, however, show an increase of 4 percent in the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, measured at 185 percent of poverty.
For the 2007-08 school year, that threshold, met by 26 percent of students, is set at $38,203 annually for a family of four, compared with $20,650 used to measure poverty.
After a series of formulas, that means Montgomery County’s 28 poorest schools are expected to split about $20 million next year, compared with 23 schools splitting about $23.5 million this school year.
