Sequester cuts impacting Head Start Program

Thanks to sequester cuts, places like the Johnnie L. Cochran Head Start Center in Shreveport will take a hit.

"What we've tried to do here is turn what's perceived to be a negative into a positive," says Laurance Guidry, President/CEO of Caddo Community Action Agency.

The CCAA is over the program.

Guidry was told last week that 5% needed to be cut from Head Start, but thankfully he was already prepared for the bad news.

"Of course we saw the cuts coming, and we started planning for it back in the beginning of January."

Head Start needs $500,000 cut from its budget, and Guidry already has the math worked out.

"So what we're going to do is delay school; suspend school a week early this year," says Guidry. "Instead of getting out on May 24th, we'll get out on May 17th."

That'll save $146,000. Then next school year, they'll start a week later, saving the same amount.

They'll also cut new projects and hold off on facility repairs.

Substitute teachers won't be used as much, and they'll ask vendors to lower their costs by 2% or 3%.

"If it had been more than that, then you might've had to do the worst of all scenarios."

Guidry says this saves over 1600 children across Caddo Parish from being cut from the program.

"The main thing in this whole project was to save the children," says Guidry.

"Am I in love with it? The answer is no," says Guidry. "But can I live with it, and can our agency live with it, and can we sustain and do what we need for the citizens of Caddo Parish? The answer to that is yes."