Federal funding for the Central Alabama Child Development & CDC Inc. (CACD), who was responsible for overseeing Head Start programs in Dallas, Choctaw, Marengo and Wilcox counties will cease at the end of June because their grant was not renewed.

An interim agency, Community Development Institute Head Start, will take over the operation of the 13 programs that were managed by CACD & CDC Inc. in the fall.

“Central Alabama Child Development and CDC Inc. is currently funded through the end of June 2015,” said Patrick Fisher, a spokesperson for the Administration of Children and Families.

“Central Alabama Child Development and CDC Inc. was notified in February of 2014 they would need to compete for further funding after their current grant period ends.”

CACD managed 13 different Head Start and Early Head Start programs in four counties with an average of 676 students per year.

“The Office of Head Start (OHS) is committed to the communities currently served by Central Alabama Child Development and CDC Inc.,” Fisher said. “Head Start will continue with minimal disruption to children and families.”

According to Judge Maggie Drake-Peterson, the chairman of the board of directors for CACD, they received an average of $5 million in funding per year.

A letter to Drake-Peterson from the OHS dated Feb. 3, 2014, said due to changes that were made to the funding process, some programs may not qualify for renewed funding in certain circumstances.

“This letter is to inform you that CACD in Selma meets one or more of those criteria, and therefore, if CACD wishes to continue to receive Head Start or Early Head Start funding, it must submit an application and compete with other entities in its community for the funding,” the letter states.

Drake-Peterson said CACD submitted an application last fall, but it was not approved, along with any other applications for agencies in the area.

“OHS solicited applications from entities interested to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services last fall through a competitive funding opportunity announcement (FOA),” Fisher said. “The FOA process did not produce a fundable applicant, and OHS will open a new FOA for this service area in fall.”

Fisher said CDI Head Start will manage the 13 centers CACD managed at the start of the school year until a competitive five-year grant award can be approved.

“It is not going to affect our children, and hopefully most of the staff will not be affected,” Drake-Peterson said.

“It just means that headquarters in Atlanta determined that we had to compete because they changed the standards a while back that make you have to compete. When we competed, they did not award us the funding, so we have to compete [again].”

CACD was determined ineligible for automatic renewal of its grant and designated to compete based on two conditions.

According to the letter, CACD had an average score below the minimum threshold for instructional support during the agency’s most recent observation, which was between Dec. 2, 2012, and Dec. 7, 2012.

It was also determined that all classrooms that were observed during that time had scores among the 10 percent of all assessed grantees in the country in emotional support, classroom organization and instructional support.

Drake-Peterson, who saw the letter for the first time Tuesday, said she questions the training CACD’s staff receives because they are trained by the OHS.

“The problem is that our staff is trained by this organization. We send [our staff] to them for training,” Drake-Peterson said. “We send our staff to them. We pay money out of our funding for them to train our workers, so what does that say? Not that I’m trying to reject what their findings appear to be, but if [they] are doing the training, then maybe their training is inadequate.”

Drake-Peterson said CACD plans to reapply for the funding when the process starts in the fall.

“We’re going to use our best efforts to make sure that we are competitive and that we remain competitive so that we can get the grant back,” Drake-Peterson said. “I have a passion for children, a passion for learning and to make sure that we don’t lose any of our children.”