EXCERPT FROM: WSIL TV
CARTERVILLE-- A Southern Illinois agency that serves hundreds of pre-schoolers is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
The state has only paid the Williamson County Early Childhood Co-op eleven percent of the funds they were promised this school year. The co-op has been making do by borrowing from Williamson County school districts.
Director Linda Drust says that course of action is not sustainable, so the executive committee took action Monday to lay the ground work to lay off all of their staff. That would mean no classes in the new 2010-2011 school year.
"We do not know exactly how much money we will receive next year,” Drust said. "It's a crystal ball that we don't have and we cannot ignore the legal guidelines that are outlined for reduction in force and non-renewal."
Educators like Peggy Curry can't ignore reality.
Over the past five years she helped develop the co-op’s family education program, which caters to teen-aged parents.
She hopes the program will continue, but says she’s preparing for news that that state will not come through with funding.
Currie believes her colleagues are preparing for the worst, too. She plans to look for a new job in the next few months.
Though she’s not an official spokesperson for co-op staff, Currie predicts, "Most of us are done. We're just going to find other jobs and leave,” she said.
Still the co-op will move through the next few months as if the money will be there.