The Bellevue School Board suspended a district policy on Tuesday, allowing them to give emergency funding to dozens of preschool students in jeopardy after the district’s Head Start funding was slashed.

The agency that oversees the distribution of federal funds to Bellevue and other local districts, 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.

In an unrivaled cut that surprised administrators, the federal Head Start funding for preschool that Bellevue received was cut in its entirety. The district lost close to $950,000 in funding that supported 151 part- and full-day preschool spots for children from low-income families.

The district and the Bellevue Schools Foundation are now scrambling to raise money to replace the lost funding.

Last month, it was reported that the Bellevue School District’s budget surplus after the 2015-2016 school year was higher than expected. But, current district policy prohibits the school board from funneling some of the surplus funds to the preschool program in time for the start of school.

After the Aug. 2 vote, a one-year allocation of $370,000 will be taken from the district reserves and put toward the lost Head Start spots.

“I was just joyful, really, to hear you make the proposal that you did, because I was afraid that we wouldn’t even be able to have this on the table,” school board member Carolyn Watson told the district’s executive board during the Aug. 2 meeting. “I wonder if this isn’t actually one of our highest priortities because of all of the research on early education and brain development.”

The new funding from the district budget will support 65 positions for children who have already been in the preschool program for one year.

Members of the school board weighed the decision with the message it might send. Superintendent Tim Mills didn’t want to send the message that it’s acceptable to ask more from residents who already pay extra for education through bonds when there are, in theory, other funding sources available. The district is also facing an uncertain funding future due to the McCleary decision, and does not want to drain its reserves.

The district is still assessing if and how to regain funding for the 2017-2018 school year and beyond. PSESD will be holding a meeting in Bellevue on Aug.13.