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When the source of funding for the Lawrence school district’s Parents as Teachers program changed from state aid to federal welfare dollars on July 1, more than half of the families enrolled in the program became ineligible.

“Even if they’re first-time parents or if they’re struggling, they didn’t qualify,” said Suzy Green, Lawrence Parents as Teachers coordinator. “So unfortunately, we had to exit them.”

The Parents as Teachers program provides parents with information and resources to better support their children’s learning and development. For example, services include home visits, developmental screenings, playgroups and education meetings. The program usually serves about 200 children in the district per year, with educators making about 1,000 home visits.

The funding shift was part of changes made to balance the state budget and went into effect with the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1. To save money, the Kansas Legislature shifted the source of the program’s funding from state aid to federal welfare money known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. Green said that as a result about 60 families in Lawrence became ineligible for the program.

An immediate effect of the funding shift, Green said, is that the Parents as Teachers program has changed from a universal program to a targeted one.

“I think the unfortunate part is Parents as Teachers has always been universal, and really promoted that no matter what your background is, you need information about being a parent,” Green said. “And so this is just really altering the foundation of how we’ve worked for the past 20 years.”

The free program, which before was open to all families in the Lawrence district, is now more restricted. With the funding shift, families must qualify for Parents as Teachers by meeting at least one of 19 criteria. Those qualifications include parents who have low income, speak a language other than English in the home or didn’t complete high school.

When the funding shift was being discussed earlier this year, school board President Vanessa Sanburn expressed concern with the program targeting low-income families.

“I think the moment that you make it qualified on income, it stops being something that’s universally good for all and turns into us saying what is good for poor children,” Sanburn said.

Previously, the state’s Children’s Initiatives Fund provided the majority of funding for the program, which was available to anyone who was pregnant or had a child under 3. The program operates throughout the state, and local school districts match 65 percent of the aid with their own funds. The Lawrence program continues to receive about $140,000 annually as well as the district match, Green said.

Parents as Teachers usually has a waiting list of about 35 people, and the recent vacancies caused by the change in eligibility mean the program will be introduced to new families.

“The positive aspect would be that we’ve always had a waiting list of over 30-some families, and so now we’re about to really get out and immediately enroll people that are in pretty vulnerable positions,” Green said. “We’ve never been in that spot before; we’ve always had to put them on a waiting list.”

More information on eligibility guidelines and enrollment is available on the district’s website.