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Board hears effect of Head Start loss, Title I carryover on pre‑K; seeks county flexibility for 3‑year‑old seats
Summary
Board members were told the district lost Head Start funding and will face a $2.4 million reduction tied to pre‑K programming; administrators requested county flexibility to place NC Pre‑K 4‑year‑old funds in classrooms that better serve family needs and described use of Title I carryover to supplement pre‑K.
Board members were told that the district’s pre‑K programming faces significant revenue changes after the loss of Head Start funding and a reduction in carryover Title I support. Josie Barnhart and other members of the board flagged a $2.4 million shortfall tied to pre‑K services and said the decrease has already reduced the number of students the district can serve.
“Part of this number that we're seeing in the 9 9, 1.4 is coming from that SafeLight we're no longer receiving from the city of Wilmington,” Barnhart said; later the board said the district is walking into next school year with a $2.4 million deficit for pre‑K. Administrators confirmed they had been using roughly $1 million in Title I carryover to supplement pre‑K classrooms and that that carryover is not a permanent funding source.
Because NC Pre‑K rules limit public programs to serving 4‑year‑olds in many cases, administrators asked the county for flexibility to serve 3‑year‑olds where needed — for example, to allow siblings to attend the same site when state funds alone would not permit a 3‑year‑old at that location. The presentation noted that NC Pre‑K typically funds 4‑year‑olds and private pre‑K sites can receive different funding levels than public sites.
Dr. Barnes and staff stressed that consolidating pre‑K into elementary schools might save money but could create transportation and access barriers for families. Mr. Anderson said the district’s long‑range capital plan will move toward building elementary facilities that can include pre‑K classrooms over time, but administrators said such facility changes will be gradual and may require retrofitting older buildings.
The board discussed the policy and operational complexity of multiple pre‑K funding streams — NC Pre‑K, county pre‑K grants, Title I carryover, and the prior Head Start funding — and asked administrators to return with options and impact analyses for the board to present to county leaders.
Administrators asked board members to help explain the loss of funding to county commissioners and the public: several board members said they planned to emphasize that the change was not a local decision but the result of changes in state and federal funding streams.
