State may have to cut successful programs during budget slashing

Many successful programs may end as the state looks to slash budget by $2.43B.

Kara York drops off sons Austin (left) and Nevin at Creative World of Child Care Center in Union before heading to work. Staff photo by Jim Witmer

Jim Witmer Kara York drops off sons Austin (left) and Nevin at Creative World of Child Care Center in Union before heading to work. Staff photo by Jim Witmer

ENLARGE PHOTO

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 9:29 PM Sunday, June 21, 2009

When Kara York’s son Nevin Smith turns 3 next Oct. 18 York wants to land him a spot in the state’s Early Learning Initiative.

Teachers help students develop the reading, math and social skills they’ll need for kindergarten.

“I think it gets the kids ready,” said York, 28, a single mother from Union in Montgomery County who manages a wine market and lounge. “They want so much more in kindergarten and first grade.”

If Gov. Ted Strickland has his way, there won’t be a program for Nevin to enter. The plan Strickland announced on Friday, June 19, to close a $3.2 billion hole in the proposed state budget would wipe out the program as part of $2.43 billion in cuts.

House and Senate negotiators will have to decide if they want to include it in the budget Strickland hopes to sign by July 1, start of the new fiscal year. The program is for low-income and nonworking families who pay a share of the costs.

“It’s absolutely devastating,” Karen Lampe, president of the Creative World of Child Care, which operates eight Dayton-area programs, said of Strickland’s recommendation.

Nevin and his brother Austin, 7, now are enrolled in one of Lampe’s childcare programs and Nevin would enter an early learning program at one of her locations.

Dozens of other successful programs also face reduction or elimination as the governor and lawmakers negotiate the new budget against the backdrop of the worst economy since the Great Depression.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in the last 40 years I’ve been working in health and human services,” said Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, co-chair of the Campaign to Protect Ohio’s Future, an advocacy group. State leaders must make sure they “don’t waiver to protect our children, our elderly, our disabled and our mentally ill,” she said.

Continue reading: What programs are in danger?

Share this article