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Preschool Program in Peril: Anxious Parents Are Urging President Bush and Congress to Restore Federal Funding to Save the Even Start Family Literacy Program.

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 June 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Phoebe Sweet, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Jun. 6--Three-year-old Seleen Hernandez wishes she could go to school every day. For Seleen, school means singing songs about the weather, learning words that begin with the letter M and reading books about rowdy monkeys. Seleen and other Reading children from low-income families get an early start on education through the Even Start Family Literacy Program. And while the children learn skills to prepare them for kindergarten, their parents learn English and parenting skills. Seleen and her mother, Eileen Valentin, attend the program four days a week. "Seleen loves it. She loves the teachers," Valentin said. "She hates it when she has vacation." But because of federal funding cuts, the Even Start program in Reading is in jeopardy, program operators and others say. The program costs $270,000 a year to run from September to May. The federal government used to provide $80,000 annually, with the state paying the rest. The state also funded a summer program. But when Even Start funding was cut nationally by 60 percent this year, the program in Reading no longer received federal dollars.

Pennsylvania responded by dropping the summer program and chipping in an additional $35,000 to keep the September-to-May program running.

But parents and teachers in the program in the city fear that Pennsylvania might not be so generous in the future.

"The parents are worried they will lose their program forever," said Migdalia Maldonado, a case manager with Even Start, which is administered locally by the Reading School District and Reading Area Community College.

Valentin said she and other Even Start parents have sent letters to President Bush and members of Congress in hopes that the federal government will restore funding for the program.

Robb A. Mutzel, coordinator of the program in Reading, said organizers don't know what the future holds.

"At this point we're living from year to year, thus the concern of the parents, who are very invested in the program and their own growth," he said.

Mutzel said the program is critical for Reading because the combination of educational programs offered by Even Start isn't provided by any other organization.

Mutzel said testing shows that parents and children are learning English, reading and other skills.

"Part of our mission is to help prepare children for entry into the school system," he said. "That's where we see the real difference, when they get into elementary school. They flourish."

Estela Delgado and sons Eduardo, 5, and Jorge, 7, have attended Even Start classes at St. Mark's United Church of Christ, 211 W. Greenwich St.

"I love to have the opportunity to come every day and learn English," said Delgado, who moved to Reading from Mexico nine years ago. "I wanted to be ready when they went to school to be able to help them (with homework) and talk to their teachers."

Delgado said Even Start also has provided her the chance to make friends with other motivated moms who are trying to learn English, get jobs and be better parents.

Contact reporter Phoebe Sweet at 610-371-5014 or psweet@readingeagle.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Reading Eagle

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