Mother worries cuts could hurt special-needs kids

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - When Bradlee Curry was 3, he spoke nothing but gibberish and showed signs of other developmental delays.

His mother, Kesha Curry, was really worried.

But the 39-year-old Davenport wife and mother of three boys said she was amazed at how well her oldest son - now almost 7 - did after he attended preschool at the Children's Village at Buchanan Elementary site in Davenport.

Bradlee found his voice after getting speech and occupational therapy at the Buchanan preschool site, which the Davenport Community School District may be forced to close because of potential state funding cutbacks for its preschool program.

Teachers and staff were notified a few weeks ago about possible staff reductions and programming changes, but parents haven't been told anything, Curry said. All three of their children have attended the Buchanan preschool, including their youngest, a 4-year-old who is in the program now.

"I'm very frustrated with it," she said. "We're a one-income family. My husband is the only one who works. We don't know what we're going to do."

The Davenport School Board hasn't voted on any changes in preschool programming yet. The problem is that state lawmakers haven't decided yet on proposed cuts to early childhood education funding, so Davenport doesn't know how much 4-year-old preschool funding it might receive for the coming fiscal year.

Officials have said it could face a $1.5 million shortfall and lose another $1.3 million in "flow-through dollars" that go to the school district's preschool partners in the community.

That leaves a lot of questions about what Davenport schools might be able to afford in the aftermath.

Conversations among school administrators have not included any changes to the Children's Village Hoover site or the new Children's Village West campus that is set to open in July next to the Putnam Museum in Davenport, school officials said.

The school district's five Children's Village preschool campuses are funded by a complicated mix of state and federal money, with help from Head Start, Title 1, special education and Shared Visions grant money, officials have said.

It's unknown how losing state funding will affect other sites within the Davenport district that run preschool programs out of their own facilities, such as churches.

Pleasant Valley Community School District Superintendent Jim Spelhaug said because his district has numerous preschool programs run by private companies, churches and nonprofit agencies, the preschool program at Bridgeview Elementary School in Bettendorf mostly caters to special-needs students and those from low-income families.

Spelhaug said his main concern was how budget cuts would affect the other preschool programs. He also said he thinks any changes to preschool funding made by the Legislature should be phased in, because implementing those changes for the next school year at this point would be a "disservice" to the preschool programs and the families they serve.

The Davenport mom, Curry, said she is concerned about children missing out on their own high-quality preschool experiences - especially those like her oldest son, who since has been diagnosed with special needs.

And she isn't giving up. As a member of the National Head Start Association's board of directors, along with the regional and state boards for Head Start, Curry said she understands the power of lobbying lawmakers about early education issues.

"I'm getting the word out for people to contact their congressmen," she said. "That's the only way we're going to get through all this."