Parents as Teachers educators kept busy by state funding cuts

A day has only so many hours, but two remaining Parents as Teachers parent educators in the Cape Girardeau School District are doing what they can to serve families of 242 children.

"We're very busy, but we are hanging in there," said Stephanie Ellinger, who has worked as a parent educator in the district for 12 years.

The biggest obstacle to getting the job done, she said, is trying to fit in everyone who needs an evening visit. And there are many. In the Jackson School District, three parent educators can't get around to families as often as they need to, assistant superintendent Dr. Beth Emmendorfer said.

In 2010, the Cape Girardeau School District laid off two of its four parent educators and Jackson reduced its staff from five and a half to three. Both districts' programs are serving around 200 fewer children as a result of the layoffs, which were forced due to cuts in state funding.

In 2011, overall funding dropped to a low point of $13 million, down from $33 million in 2008. Appropriated funding for 2012 is $16 million, but there is a reserve on the funds of $2.1 million, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Parents as Teachers, a program that provides parents with personal visits, group meetings, development screenings and a resource and referral network, is not alone in early education funding cuts, said Kathy Thornburg, Missouri's assistant commissioner of education. There have also been cuts to the Missouri Preschool Project, which was created to promote high quality early care and education programs for children one or two years from kindergarten eligibility.

"It is a statewide issue that there is less money in supporting young children and their families than in the past," Thornburg said. But it's up to the state legislature in the next session to add more money, and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education doesn't have a magic wand to make that happen, she said.

According to the national Parents as Teachers organization, data collected at the end of 2010 showed around 20 school districts in Missouri have opted out of offering the program, which is allowed because of a change in state law that occurred when funding was cut.

Hillary Elliott, the organization's public policy director, said revisions to Parents as Teachers program guidelines handed down to districts by DESE after budget cuts are resulting in a shift of how the program operates. Some districts have backed off by cutting their programs, while others have shifted money around to keep the program funded, she said.

The revised guidelines focus on service for high-need families that meet two of the following criteria: chemical dependencies; use of foster care or court-appointed guardian; receive free or reduced lunch; referral from the Division of Family Services; have lived in more than two family homes in the past year; death in the immediate family; experience of an ongoing health concern for the child, parent or sibling; disabled parent; non-English or limited English speaking; child has disability; family involvement with corrections; military family; teen parent; low birth weight; parent has less than high school diploma; and single-parent household.

The effects of funding cuts and revised guidelines will show up in the future, Elliott said.

"I think that if you talk to a school superintendent or a kindergarten teacher in the next couple of years that had a Parents as Teachers program before and no longer has one, they will tell you they notice a major difference in children being prepared for school," she said. "The beauty of Parents as Teachers is that it helps families get ready for sending their children to school."

According to Ellinger, the parent is the first teacher, and Parents as Teachers gives them the help they need to guide the child's development while at the same time getting a parent involved with their child's education early.

Expanding preschool is a move in Jackson to help pick up the slack for less Parents as Teachers exposure, according to Emmendorfer. The half- and full-day preschool programs there have grown quickly in recent years. Cape Girardeau has also added preschool at three elementary schools, and the district's $40 million bond project has includes construction of preschool classrooms to existing and new buildings.

The priorities for 2012 are screening services with an emphasis on children ages 3 months to 3 years, personal visits with high-needs families expecting a child or with a child under kindergarten entry age and personal visits with all families who are expecting a child or with a child under kindergarten entry age, according to DESE.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau MO

614 E. Adams St., Jackson, MO