As a $16 million hit to N.C. Smart Start threatens to leave Partnerships for Children reeling, officials at Sampson County’s facility said they expect to roll with the budget punch in continuing to meet the needs of the children and families who rely on them.

“Funding reductions through state-wide budget cuts are impacting all Smart Start Partnerships in one way or another, including the Partnership for Children of Sampson County,” said Victoria Byrd, executive director for the local agency. “The reality is that there are fewer resources to meet the increased, economically-driven need of families, children and agencies that partner with Smart Start.”

The impact the budget cuts will have in Sampson County is not yet clear.

“We’ve not been given an allocation amount (for the year),” Byrd said Thursday. “We just don’t know yet.”

Smart Start is a public-private initiative that provides early education funding to all of the state’s 100 counties. Those funds are administered at the local level through the non-profit Partnerships, of which there are 77 across the state.

The Partnership for Children of Sampson County was able to impact the lives of 2,401 children 5 years old and younger during 2008-09, according to Melinda Holland, community awareness manager for the local Partnership.

“The Partnership for Children provides children and parents who are enrolled in our programs essential needs and opportunities to make them stronger, successful and more capable to use their own assets and abilities,” stated Holland.

However, slashes in the state budget have already forced the local Partnership to cut programs, including the elimination of two service activities that provide literacy and language development services to families. Byrd said portions of those services may be offered through other programs, but the Partnership can no longer afford to meet the same level of need as before.

She stressed that, whenever possible, Partnership administrators, staff and personnel have been working to lessen the impact any state-mandated cuts will have to those in Sampson County.

She said the Partnership has decreased internal costs by conducting a personnel lay-off, implementing a hiring freeze of eight positions, requiring all staff to participate in 12 furlough days annually — which consists of a salary reduction of 5 percent — and discontinuing some contracted services, as well as other “administrative-related cutbacks.”

Partnership staff and administrators have also gone so far as to assume cleaning duties for their office facility at West Main Street.

“These are difficult times which call for courageous responses to unexpected challenges,” said Byrd.

More grant requests are being written than in years past and the Partnership has been successful in that endeavor, despite not being a recipient of stimulus funding, Byrd attested.

It is all being done toward a main goal — for all children to enter school ready to learn.

“(The Partnership for Children of Sampson County Board of Directors) recognizes that, whenever there are funding decisions, they are hard decisions to make,” said Byrd, “how we can do with resources what we need to do to meet the mission of our organization, and they stay tuned to that.”

To that end, board decisions have been made in an attempt to avoid — as is possible — reduction of services to the families and children who depend on the programs, including More at Four, Parents as Teachers and other learning programs targeting social, emotional, physical and language development and school readiness.

They are decisions that have been made even more difficult by the lateness of the budget’s adoption, which has left educational institutions across the state in limbo, to include the local school systems and Partnerships.

“The most difficult local budgetary obstacle is the necessity of planning without actually having an identified allocated amount of funding,” Byrd stated. “The Partnership, itself, is never guaranteed a specific amount of funding from one year to another. Funding is always dependent upon availability and legislation.”

Byrd said there was $1,336,444 allocated to the Sampson County Partnership during the 2008-09 year to serve local children. The 2008-09 reverted budget stood at $1,119,000, meaning that 16.3 percent of the allocated total was kept by the state.

Byrd said that budget planning by the Board of Directors ensures that the local Partnership’s fiscal plan can be cut by as much as 20 percent, while still maintaining a quality level of service.

‘Dust beginning to settle’

To prepare for the school year, contracts with service providers such as the school systems, Head Start and private child care facilities must be done so that teaching personnel can be secured, transportation arranged, teacher training conducted, children enrolled and home visitations performed.

State budget proceedings have left little time for firm budget planning.

“Although the Partnership delayed as long as possible on the contract decisions, we eventually were forced to move forward with at least tentative plans and budgets,” Byrd attested.

Plans changed as budget deliberations continued and speculation mounted. Now that the state budget is signed and the “dust is beginning to settle,” Byrd said, more definite planning and budgeting can occur. In some cases, that will require “a complete revamping” of initial plans, she noted.

Among the retooling, there is a possibility of additional children being included in the More at Four program because of a budget reduction lower than was originally debated in the General Assembly. During budget talks in July, the estimated Smart Start cut had swelled as high as $28 million.

“Locally, this may impact families and the service providers in a positive way should Sampson County be the recipient of additional program funding,” stated an optimistic Byrd. “There is a also a possibility that other recipients of Smart Start annual funding may receive additional dollars when the Partnership actually receives its allocation amount in the next few weeks.”

Byrd praised volunteers, community members, donors and even the owner of the Partnership building for their generosity in meeting the needs of local children.

When cuts need to be made, it is not a time for divisiveness, Byrd attested.

“One of the collateral results of the budget is it’s causing relationships to be strained because of the money,” Byrd remarked. “I feel like, when the budget crisis is over, there’s going to be many communities left rebuilding bridges broken by it. It’s tough when there’s money involved. We’re making the best out of a hard time.”

Said Byrd, “It’s one of those things we all have to deal with right now.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by e-mail at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.