A program that allows parents to restart their education alongside their children at the East Heights Early Childhood Family Center will not be able to serve its regular 40 Lawrence families next school year.

After learning that the federal government planned to entirely phase out its grants to the state after the coming school year, Kansas officials declined the $430,000 grant for 2006-07. That sum already was far less than the previous year’s $1.2 million grant that funded Even Start at seven Kansas school districts.

Now, Cris Anderson, site principal at East Heights, will work with staff members and make a recommendation in April to the Lawrence school board on how to salvage a portion of the local program.

“Even Start is a unique program. It wraps itself around an entire family,” Anderson said.

Currently it operates on about $168,000 in grant funding.

How much it will cost to operate Even Start is unknown right now, Anderson said, but it is certain the program will serve fewer families. Between 350 to 400 families have benefited from Even Start since it began 13 years ago, she said.

“We’re trying to design a program with no federal money, knowing that local funds – there’s no bucket of money there,” Anderson said.

The other programs at East Heights will not be affected.

Mitzi Robinson earned her G.E.D. in 2002 from Even Start at East Heights. Aside from her own studies there, she was able to work alongside her three young children in Even Start’s literacy program.

Now Robinson is studying media arts at Haskell Indian Nations University. After she graduates in May, she plans to attend Kansas University. She is also an intern for 6News.

“It has meant everything to us because if I didn’t have the Even Start program, I wouldn’t have gotten my G.E.D. and gone to college,” Robinson said.

She also said she would like to see others have the same opportunity in Lawrence.

Many states have reported unfavorable results from the program, which led to its downfall. But parents and students in Kansas and Lawrence experienced more success, Anderson said, which is why she and her staff plan to try to keep some form of it alive.

“We’re hoping to take this as an opportunity to design this as a local family literacy program,” Anderson said.