For a single, unemployed, teenage mother, the best type of child care is affordable — or, even better, free.

Just ask Nadean Liska.

“I like that price,” the 18-year-old said. “And I like that I can try to get my GED at the same time.”

But Liska and 29 other low-income families in Lawrence could lose their chance to chase their academic dreams if the Bush administration’s request to eliminate funding for the Even Start Family Literacy Program in 2005 is accepted.

“It worries me,” said Chris Anderson, who runs Lawrence’s Even Start program at East Heights Early Childhood Family Center. “I walk down the hallways of our school, and I see the families that would be affected by this program being eliminated, and I think, well, what would they do?”

Even Start is a federal program that provides grants to states for educational and parenting classes and early childhood care for low-income families.

Kansas’ Even Start programs are administered through the Kansas State Department of Education.

“The premise behind Even Start is we’re going to break intergenerational cycles of poverty and illiteracy through a program that addresses both the parents’ needs and the children’s needs, educationally,” Anderson said.

The Lawrence school district offers other adult education programs, including the Adult Learning Center at 2017 La. and the Diploma Completion program at 711 W. 23rd St., but Even Start is the only program that provides simultaneous, complimentary child care, too.

Teresa Wright, 3, an Even Start student at East Heights Early Childhood Family Center, tosses an armful of leaves into the air while playing outside during a break. The center could lose its federal funding if the Bush administration's request to eliminate support for the Even Start Family Literacy Program in 2005 is accepted.

“It’s a lot more convenient,” says Amanda Elkins, also a participant in the Even Start program. “I’m in the same building as my child. I don’t have to worry about the cost of day care, and in case of an emergency or if something was to go wrong, they’d be able to contact me easily.”

The 17-year-old says she’ll complete her GED next month and plans to go on to Washburn University, where she hopes to study social work.

Elkins might be inching toward success, but a study by the U.S. Department of Education found her story to be more the exception than the rule.

The study labels Even Start “ineffective,” citing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding between 1999 and 2001, and no more than 18.4 percent of adults in the Even Start program who received their secondary school diploma or GED.

6News video: Program for low-income families at risk Even Start Family Literacy Program

But Anderson says those statistics won’t stop her from making sure this pivotal service continues to be provided to underprivileged families in Lawrence, regardless of what federal legislators decide.

“Once we know what’s going on,” Anderson said, “we will, if we need to, put together a request for the (school district’s) budget committee to consider funding Even Start.”