Board delays vote on day care funding

Criticism of a proposal to limit government funding to younger children - while eliminating funding for those 6 years or older - was enough to postpone a vote Monday by board members overseeing that funding to childhood education programs.

Board members of the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando counties agreed to wait until their May meeting before considering changes to how government subsidies are distributed to day care and other institutions in charge of children's programs.

With a $1.6 million cut to the coalition - and further cuts expected in following years - board members discussed options to limit funding to children up to 5 years old, while phasing out older children from qualifying for the same subsidy.

By doing so, some argued they would better serve the younger children, who some think are the most in need.

However, a room full of day care representatives and employees from Hernando and Pasco counties criticized the plan, saying it would result in parents leaving their children unsupervised and at risk of being injured.

Linna Blevins, a child advocate and retired curriculum specialist, said others claimed many older children continue to have learning needs that can only be met with the help of government funding to stay in day care.

"For children 7 to 12 years old, there are also important windows for childhood development," Blevins said, "and if we ignore these children once they're older, we could lose all the gains we made with them."

At times, terse words were exchanged between crowd members and Early Learning Coalition Chairwoman Lisa Hammond, who at one point threatened to close public comments because crowd members didn't listen to her when she told them to hold their clapping until the end of the public comment period.

In other instances, Hammond reprimanded crowd members who spoke out of turn or yelled at the board while it was deliberating the proposal.

"I will stop the public comments," Hammond said after audience members clapped for one speaker.

"The comments will go on whether you allow them to or not," one crowd member responded.

Following the public comment period, board member Joe Mascaro said the board should approve the proposal and reduce the ages of the children served by the subsidies.

He said that although he understood arguments to continue funding for older students, he said there's a waiting list that includes infants and small children who are not being served by day care and early childhood education.

"I think if we go back and look at the purpose of the coalition, it's to prepare children to enter into and succeed in school," Mascaro said. "This is not a day care that we're running - and now that there's a lack of money out there, we have to look at doing what we do best and meet the most needs of those children we're supposed to serve."

However, board member Steven Kanakis said he didn't feel comfortable voting until there was a clear plan in place to address the needs of the older children should the measure be approved. Other board members claimed they'd like to consider applying the funding to children up to age 8 instead of age 5.

Hammond said the board's next meeting is 8:30 a.m. May 27 at Career Central, where she expects a vote on the matter.

"This is not a foregone conclusion. The board could vote to lower the age range or they could vote to do nothing," Hammond said. "But that means there would also be younger children who wouldn't be served and the board would have to be OK with that."