The Cabarrus County Board of Education unanimously approved expanding its early childhood programs, with two classrooms serving 36 students next school year, during the board’s combined work session and business meeting on Monday.
Tara Nattrass, director of elementary education for Cabarrus County Schools, presented a proposal to expand the early childhood programs by leasing space at All Saints Episcopal Church in Concord and using dual subsidy funding that Cabarrus Partnership for Children receives and will provide.
“We know early childhood programs have a big impact on students. … We know we have children throughout the county we are unable to reach,” Nattrass said.
The dual subsidy funding is federally funded and comes to the state, said Ann Benfield, executive director for Cabarrus Partnership for Children. The More at Four and Smart Start programs are provided by Cabarrus Partnership for Children, which must spend 30 percent of its funding in childcare subsidies, Benfield said.
Cabarrus County Schools currently has 176 students at Long School that are funded by Head Start and the North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program (NC Pre-K); 108 students at Carl A. Furr, W.M. Irvin, Rocky River and Winecoff elementary schools that are funded by NC PreK; and about 200 students at the Mary Frances Wall Center. There are still 300-400 students on the waiting list, though, and Nattrass said the board asked about a year ago how it could expand its early childhood programs.
“I can see it’s very much a win-win for the children and for the school system. … We can only serve so many, but the number on the waiting list keeps going up and up and up. This will provide more services for more children,” Shue said.
