EOU Head Start to provide in-person classes

Published 6:30 am Tuesday, August 4, 2020

LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon University Head Start will provide in-person instruction for its students beginning in late August. And the program won’t begin the 2020-21 school year battling financial headwinds.

EOU Head Start’s centers in La Grande, Elgin, Union and Baker City will open on the dates school districts in those towns begin providing virtual or in-person instruction.

“Our centers have the same schedules as the school districts they are in,” said Robert Kleng, director of EOU Head Start.

Kleng said it will be easier for EOU Head Start to provide in-person classes for its students, who are ages 3 and 4, because of the Oregon governor’s office’s new rules — the School Health and Safety Metrics. It is less difficult for preschools to meet standards, which includes requiring children 5 and older to wear masks in public, than schools with older students during the coronavirus pandemic.

The reason for the difference, Kleng said, is Gov. Kate Brown realizes how critical it is for young children to receive in-person instruction.

“Ninety percent of a child’s brain development takes place from birth to age 5,” Kleng said. “It is critical that children receive face-to-face instruction during this time. The window closes very quickly, and Gov. Brown understands this.”

EOU Head Start recently completed a summer session in which some classes were in-person and it was successful, Kleng said. And the popular five-decade-old program is set to start its fall session with a financial boost thanks to a major increases in state and federal funding.

The Oregon Department of Education’s Early Learning Division announced that EOU Head Start will receive almost $1.06 million in additional state and federal grant funding in 2020-21, a 30% jump, which means the program will be expanding.

“EOU Head Start will be able to expand its reach and services by 30%. We will be serving 30% more children and families,” Kleng said.

A total of $463,203 of the increase will come from an increase EOU Head Start will receive from the Oregon Pre-Kindergarten program. The increase will boost what EOU Head Start is able to pay its teachers.

“This will help us provide living wage jobs,” Kleng said.

EOU Head Start has a total of 50 employees in Union and Baker counties. Kleng said the pay increases will bring the salaries and wages of teachers and staff close to the average paid to school district employees in Northeast Oregon. EOU Head Start’s staff will receive 27% pay increases. He said this is possible because every effort is being made to direct most of the additional funding to the classroom and to limit administrative expenses. The saving provides for the pay raises.

Almost all of the funding increase comes from the new Oregon Success Act, which the Legislature passed about a year ago. It provides funding for education programs with revenue from the new Corporate Activity Tax.

EOU Head Start also received a $504,000 grant from the the state education department’s Oregon Preschool Promise program. The funds will cover the cost of adding a classroom to the EOU Head Start center in Elgin.

“The intent of our work in Elgin will be to make (Head Start) preschool available to every 4-year-old,” Kleng said.

The expansion of the Elgin center helps with that, but so does an eligibility change.

The state once limited Head Start eligibility to families at or below the federal poverty level, but now the program also is open to families with incomes twice the federal poverty level. Kleng said this means a family of four with a household income of $50,000-$55,000 is eligible for EOU Head Start services.

In Baker City, money from the Oregon Preschool Promise will help create an early learning center from existing facilities in Baker School District 5J, which will assist EOU Head Start. The early learning center will be at a site where office space will be rented to agencies that assist families with preschoolers, including Building Healthy Families, the Department of Human Services and Women Infants and Children. The intent of having an early learning center in the same building as agencies such as these is to give parents easy access to them when they drop off and pick up their children, Kleng said.

The additional funding EOU Head Start will receive also will allow for the addition of Early Head Start in Union and Baker counties.

This program will pay for services for families expecting children and those with boys and girls who are up to 3 years old. The services support parents raising children, Kleng said.

“Parents are the first and most important teachers children have,” Kleng said. “Many parents do not realize this. Early Head Start empowers parents to be a child’s first and most important teacher.”

Eastern Oregon University Head Start’s enrollment deadline for the 2020-21 school year is Aug. 16. To apply, go to www.eou.edu/head-start and click on “Apply Now.” For additional information call 541-786-5535.