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HISD Seeks Funds From State and Feds For Current and Future Needs

Posted byHoumanitarian
Image: KUHF

Laura Isensee, KUHF Public Radio
At Farias Early Childhood Center, Jillian Schertle reads a book to her students.
“One fine afternoon a young princess put on her cape, picked up her favorite toy, a golden ball, and went outside to play.”

Five-year-old Elias Ramos already knows the ending: “It’s about a frog that turns into a prince.”

By the time he finishes pre-K, Elias should be ready to read himself. Schertle teaches her students shapes, numbers and letters. “A, B, C, D, E, F, G”

“Our day is packed. In fact, I feel like I never have enough time to finish everything that we’re doing. “ [Schertle says.]

ALSO: HISD Eyes $12 Million in Federal Funds for Magnet STEM Programs
(Chron.com)

She also teaches important social skills:
“Someone takes another child’s crown and at the beginning of the year, it’s an outburst it’s a fit, it’s crying, It’s, ‘She took my crown.’ But then by the end of the year, they have the words to say, you took my crown, give it back.’”

Now Houston and other school districts are telling state lawmakers, “You took our pre-K funding, please give it back.”

In 2011 the state cut $200 million dollars in grant money that helped pay for full-day pre-K. The state still pays for half-day programs.

But those cuts had a big impact. Robert Sanborn with the group Children at Risk explains.
“We know that 9 percent of school district across the state of Texas have eliminated anything that they could in regards of pre-k. Many full day pre-k programs have been eliminated and moved out to half day and whenever half day programs could be eliminated, those were as well.”

At Farias, principal Ali Oliver says the smaller budget means bigger pre-K classes.
“Last year when they cut a lot of funding, it really affected us, I mean we’ve lost our social worker, we lost our librarian, but we compensate in other areas, my teachers go above and beyond in terms of stepping up to the plate, they do a lot more with a lot less.”

Overall the Houston Independent School District lost five million dollars for pre-K.
(Read and hear more of the story at KUHF Public Radio)

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