Pasco schools to shift Head Start units, partner with Metropolitan Ministries and expand VPK seats

District staff told the Pasco County School Board that the district will partner with Metropolitan Ministries to place four Head Start units at the nonprofit’s new Holiday campus and to reallocate early-learning classrooms across several elementary schools.

The move comes after the district failed to win an expansion grant. A staff member leading the early-learning presentation said the district will use a mix of Title I set-aside dollars and VPK vouchers to provide full-day pre-K to families in greatest need and that the district expects the changes to increase access rather than reduce slots. “There is no reduction in Head Start, and there’s no reduction in VPK,” the staff member said. “As a matter of fact, if these units are as intended, next year we will serve 500 more VPK students or pre k students.”

Why it matters: school staff framed the changes as a response to long wait lists and transportation barriers for families. The district said Hudson Primary Academy and Fox Hollow Elementary have the highest Head Start wait lists, and that combining Title I early-childhood set-asides with VPK vouchers would create full-day options without reducing schools’ site Title I allocations.

What staff described: district materials and presenters said: - Four Head Start units will be placed at Metropolitan Ministries’ new Holiday campus; the district will move two Head Start classrooms (from Marlow and LELA) into that partnership. The staff member said the district’s Head Start teachers and enrolled children will remain district-affiliated even while Metropolitan Ministries provides facilities, furnishings and supplies. “Our 2 Head Start teachers and classrooms at Marlowe and at LELA will go to Metropolitan Ministries, but they will remain our teachers, our children,” the staff member said. - Woodland Elementary’s Head Start and Early Head Start sites will move into the remodeled West Zephyrhills Elementary site; staff said about eight units will be located there so families can access pre-K through fifth grade in a single campus. - The district will add or reconfigure classrooms at other elementary sites: an added classroom at TES; Skybrook increased from two to three parent-pay units; district staff said Sunray Elementary is under review with a parent survey to avoid oversaturation near the Holiday/Metropolitan Ministries campus. - Funding mix: presenters said the district will use a District Title I early-childhood set-aside for some of the part-day/second-half funding and VPK vouchers for the first half of the day, so the blended model does not reduce a school’s site Title I allocation.

Community partnership details: staff said Metropolitan Ministries will provide furniture, supplies and a no-rent/no-utilities arrangement under a memorandum of understanding that will be presented to the board later. The district described the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Ministries arrangement as a model and said the MOU will specify roles and annual review procedures.

What the district did not yet decide or specify: the board packet and presentation did not include the signed MOU (staff said it is forthcoming), exact start dates for each relocated classroom, nor a final count of students to be served at each relocated site beyond the district’s projection of 500 additional VPK seats systemwide if planned units operate as intended.

Looking ahead: staff said detailed MOUs and implementation timelines will come back to the board for review. The district framed the shifts as targeted responses to wait lists and transportation barriers rather than program eliminations.