A group of low-income families spoke on Aug. 13 before the agency that cut Head Start funding for preschool programs, pleading with board members to reconsider the actions that have negatively impacted their children.

While most families are preparing for the start of school on Sept. 1, local mother Hilda Garcia said she is uncertain how to tell her 4-year-old son that he can’t go back to preschool this year.

“He was understanding that going to school, he was getting a chance at growth and for a better future… How will I tell my 4-year-old child there is no more school?” Garcia said to the board through an interpreter. “To some people, Head Start might not be as important. But, it’s a first step in providing a better future for children. When I received the notice that the funds were going to be cut, it was a devastating notice.”

The agency that oversees the distribution of federal funds to Bellevue and other local districts — the Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) — lost their long-standing grant and had to re-apply over the last academic year. In June, they were notified that they received less funding than in years past and would have to cut 400 spots across the 35 school districts they oversee.

The entirety of Bellevue’s funding for the next five years, which paid the pre-school tuition for 151 low-income students, was cut in June.

Earlier this month, the Bellevue school board suspended a district policy and pulled $370,000 from the district’s reserves to help pay for some students’ tuition. But, that only covered a portion of a lost funding.

Though it is undetermined at this time which students will be able to attend with the roughly 80 spots salvaged through emergency funding, it is expected that those students unable to attend preschool this year will be disproportionately Latino and black, according to district data.

Around a dozen advocates and parents — many of them speaking through an interpreter — detailed how the cut has affected their families and asked the board of directors to restore funding to the Bellevue School District.

Some of the affected families are also residents of the Highland Village apartment complex and narrowly avoided eviction.

“We have gone through so many things,” resident Mariana Flores told the board through tears. “I believe that it is very important to preserve this program. It’s really important beginning of their lives and it provides a better future for them.”

PSESD board members said afterwards that they will likely be unable to reinstate Bellevue’s lost funding, but want to advocate for more Head Start funding from the federal government in the future. They also stated that it was not a board decision to eliminate Bellevue’s funding, but a staff decision.