Utah isn't among the states hardest hit by what the National Head Start Association (NHSA) estimates could be an $82 million cut to the federal program for disadvantaged preschoolers. According to NHSA, California stands to lose 3,800 slots and Texas more than 2,600. Nationally, enrollment would be closed to 35,000 children.

But Nicole Droitsch, a spokeswoman for the Head Start program in Salt Lake City, said any amount of belt-tightening hurts: "We are only serving about 50 percent of the eligible children as it is."

Two years of sluggish funding, coupled with new training mandates for Head Start teachers, have forced some of Utah's 15 programs to lay off staff or ask them to take pay cuts, said Droitsch. "We've done whatever we can to prevent cutting off services to children from families in need, but we're running out of options."

Droitsch hopes a U.S. Senate amendment to the spending plan that would give Head Start a funding boost wins approval over the House plan. But fearing the worst, her national affiliates called a news conference on Thursday, blaming the cuts on attempts to offset costs of hurricane relief efforts.

"These cuts are horrific, quite literally balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest and most at-risk kids in this nation," said NHSA Board Chairman Ron Herndon. "Some people in Congress don't want to be caught pulling the trigger on Head Start, but they have no problem with locking us in a room and hoping that no one notices as we starve to death."

For a state-by-state breakdown of possible cuts visit: www.saveheadstart.org

kstewart@sltrib.com