Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos tried to reassure families Thursday they won’t feel the loss of New York City’s federal Head Start grant — but wouldn’t commit to funding the program after this school year.
The expired grant was valued at $78 million and funded about 5,900 child care seats for children from low-income homes from birth to age 5, local education officials said. The school system had applied for fewer seats overall but more programs for younger kids in the most recent application.
“The whole purpose of us investing proactively is so services would not be lost for families,” she said during a virtual press briefing. “This is ensuring continuity of care.”
New York City’s school district was forced to reapply this year when its contract term was up because of the damaging results of a federal audit. (Some Head Start programs, though, contract directly with the federal government and were not impacted by the city’s denial.)
Mayor Adams promised in the spring to cover any budget gaps, and on Wednesday, the Division of Early Childhood Education notified providers it was not approved for another grant. City and education officials would not say how much funding they would put in — only that it was “significant” and still being finalized — or if it would continue after the current school year.
“We are having conversations, but we can’t commit now about next year at this time,” said Simone Hawkins, the chancellor’s deputy for early education.
Hawkins stressed that it wasn’t the first time New York City lost substantial Head Start funding. When the de Blasio administration transitioned contracted care from the city’s Administration for Children’s Services to the public schools, the number of Head Start seats were cut in half, she said.
A representative for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the Office of Head Start (OHS), said a team of independent reviewers evaluated all applications and that the top dozen were funded. The agency did not immediately provide a list of awards.
“OHS is eager to partner with these new awardees to support Early Head Start and Head Start implementation in New York City,” said Health spokesman Andrew Nixon. “In the coming weeks, OHS will implement a plan to transition Early Head Start and Head Start operations to the leadership of these new grant awardees.”
