Kelly Ashworth graduated top of her class at Kennesaw State University but found her niche at the starting rung on the academic ladder, teaching pre-kindergarten to Georgia 4-year-olds.
Ashworth and other pre-k teachers are wondering about the future of their students and the fate of their jobs now that Gov. Nathan Deal has proposed cutting the program's hours from 6.5 a day to 4 a day.
"My initial reaction was shock. How could he take my life from me?" said Ashworth, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from Kennesaw with a bachelor's in early education and has been teaching pre-k in Canton for four years.
Ashworth already works two jobs to pay the bills. With pre-k hours slated to be cut by nearly 40 percent, she said she wonders: "How will I work three jobs?"
Currently, Ashworth and 8,429 other Georgians work as lead and assistant teachers in 4,215 pre-k classes held in public schools and private centers across the state.
About 3,815 of the program's other lead teachers have bachelor's degrees, according to Bright from the Start, the state agency overseeing Georgia pre-k. They earn on average about $30,000 a year in those now full-time jobs. The cuts would make those teaching jobs part-time.
Deal has proposed major changes to pre-k and the HOPE scholarship. Both programs are paid for with proceeds from the Georgia Lottery, which is not bringing in revenues like it once did nor keeeping pace with the two programs' expenses.
Deal's plan to take the program part-time would save about $54 million, part of which would be put back into adding pre-k slots for 5,000 4-year-olds and bringing total enrollment to about 89,000.
He rolled out the plan to bi-partisan support, saying the cuts are the best way to save pre-k in Georgia. But Deal has since had some push back from lawmakers and advocacy groups.
Private pre-k operators say the state's often lauded program for 4-year-olds can't retain quality teachers or its national reputation when offering part-time salaries.
"It sets us back 25 years in the gains we've made toward building a system that works for our child," Elaine P. Draeger, president & CEO, Sheltering Arms Early Education & Family Centers, said of Deal's proposal.
Draeger, who was part of a pilot for the launch of Georgia pre-k in the early 1990s, said providers have always known that getting 4-year-olds ready for kindergarten requires a "stable, well-trained teaching staff.
"For decades now, that's been the mantra with funders and regulators of early childhood programs -- if we are investing in you, we want results and we expect you to have the educated, experience staff to achieve them," she said.
Local school systems run more than a third of all of the state's pre-k programs, which means superintendents also are scrambling.
"Those local school systems are looking for as many ways as they can dream up to see if they can make something other than four-hour days for students and five-and-a-half hour days for teachers work," said Herb Garrett, executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.
In Wilcox County in Middle Georgia, Superintendent Steve Smith says officials will do their best to keep their pre-k program going, despite what he's anticipating will be a 44 percent cut in state funding.
As for retaining the program's teachers, he's not so sure. "They have indicated they need a full paycheck," Smith said.
Tabitha Webb-Fleming, a teacher at the Sheltering Arms Welcome All Center in College Park, is in the same boat as Ashworth.
"I will not be able to pay my bills if my hours get cut," she said.
Pam Clark, who works with Ashworth at The Kid Connection in Canton, feels the same.
My biggest fear is that many great teachers will be forced to leave teaching because they can’t afford to stay on a part-time salary," Clark said, adding that she might be forced to look for other full-time work or a second job if the program goes part-time.
For students, she said, a shorter day will mean less instruction time and less time to interact with the other children to improve their social skills.
Lunch might be one thing in the program that has to go, Clark said, and for some children that could mean the loss of one of their only nutritious meals of the day.
"It also has huge impacts on working parents," she said. "If the days are shortened, they will have to pay for additional child-care."
Ashworth hopes the full-time classes and teachers' full-time jobs can be spared.
"I am a firm believer in the program," she said.
Helping students master how to count, write their names and leave pre-k knowing their letters, and for some, even how to read, is rewarding, Ashworth said.
"Who hasn't had a success story?" she said. "Every day is a success story."
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