Sampson’s Pre-K woes are over — for now

After an uncertain future earlier this year, Sampson County Schools’ Pre-K program has been approved and funded for another year. The decision by the Sampson County Board of Education was made at the February meeting, said Superintendent Dr. Jamie King.

“We voted that we’re going to continue to provide the seats with Pre-K that we have now,” he said.

The vote comes after the school board and school system staff worked intently with the Sampson County Partnership for Children to come up with a solution that would allow the 4-year-olds to continue to attend Pre-K programs in county schools.

Pre-K helps 4-year-old children prepare for kindergarten by providing an educational learning experience prior to entering elementary school. The program allows children to experience a school environment early, learning how to develop stronger social skills and how to behave in a classroom setting.

The uncertainty about the program’s future came to light late last year, as the Board of Education began to consider ideas that would reduce the number of seats available in the Pre-K program or eliminate it entirely, due to budget concerns.

Partnership for Children Director Donna Jackson had pleaded with the board at its Jan. 27 meeting to do whatever it took to continue the program, which provides much needed education for students prior to kindergarten. “The Sampson County Board of Education was looking at reducing the number of slots, but have made the decision to keep all the slots,” Jackson said on Tuesday morning. “We’re very pleased that they made that decision.”

Of course, funding Pre-K for one more year doesn’t mean the program’s troubles are all resolved. Jackson had also appeared before the county commissioners to request funding to keep the program going. At the Board of Commissioners meeting in February, she requested $5 per child to maintain the slots the program currently has, which totals $16,650, she said.

“I did speak to the county commissioners and I did ask them for $5 per child or about $16,650 for all of the children in Sampson County, which was Clinton City and Sampson County Schools,” she said Tuesday. “I have not heard back from them so far. I did see a county commissioner yesterday and they said they were still working on it. Thankfully, with the school board’s decision, we are good for the next year.”

At the commissioners meeting, Jackson had said, “We do not benefit financially from this program; we benefit from knowing we serve the community.”

If the county did decide to allocate the funding, it would help alleviate some of the financial pressure on the city and county schools. “We have a lot of requests from other departments and will look at everything,” Commission Chair Allen McLamb told The Sampson Independent in February.

While considering the funding issues, King said the county school system had looked at everything from possibly discontinuing Pre-K transportation to consolidating to one countywide site. “We have to ask ourselves how we can serve our Pre-K students best,” he said. “We’ve been working diligently with the Partnership for Children to better that situation, while at the same time keeping in mind that we need to be good stewards of state funds.”

And though the program is saved for now, the issue may come up again in the next funding cycle, King said. “It would be determined by how many vacant seats there are in the coming year,” he explained. “We have to make sure we have a good working relationship with the Partnership to ensure that we fill those vacant seats. If those seats are vacant, we’ll have to pay for them and will have to figure out a way to do that.”

No matter what, Jackson and King both said they hope the program can continue for years to come. “Pre-K is to ensure that every single student who enters kindergarten is on an even playing field,” King said. “They have a better understanding of school going in. All the research shows that Pre-K students are better prepared than those who do not attend Pre-K.”