Two Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission Head Start Sites set to close

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission has made the tough choice to close some of its Head Start classrooms.

Commissioners voted during their last board meeting to shut down Cantua Creek and San Joaquin locations.

Interim CEO Brian Angus says the sites used to be full.

"We were the only game in town. We were providing services in a place like Cantua Creek, we had classrooms, they were full, we had waiting list. And if you had a child between 0 and 5 and you wanted to get them into head start and we provided the services," said Angus.

But he says today that's different. He points to local preschools in the area that now offer AM and PM classes and attributes the Head Start closures to a lack of enrollment and says they are required to maintain 95 percent enrollment.

"That's always going to be an issue. We can't serve them because we don't have enough kids in that area to serve, hopefully the schools will pick them up," said Angus.

Head Start 0 to 5, provides early care and education to low income families.

A Fresno EOC progress report shows 2022 to 2023 the program served 2,500 children and families.

The following year, it served just over 2,700.

Board meeting minutes from January 7th show at the end of last year, only 1,707 students were enrolled.

The total funded income was 2,120 and the document shows if funded enrollment is not met, it will result in a loss of funding.

But Angus says money is not the reason for the closures.

"There's no financial issue here, there's never been an audit that showed any issue with Head Start, there's never been a deficit in Head Start. There's never been over expenditures or over expenditures," said Angus.

Huron Mayor Rey Leon sits on EOC's board. He hopes the decision the commission had to make does not last forever.

"I know it's extremely important to have head start in childcare in our region, especially for low income families or farm worker families. And so that's just the scenario we're in regretfully, but one that we will definitely champion ourselves out of," said Leon.

The closures have to be approved by the federal office of head start before fully taking effect.

If they are closed, the sites will still stay open through the end of the school year. But people can still get any other services Fresno EOC offers.