Valley teachers worry sequestration could put some jobs at risk.
$87 million in funding could be cut from primary and secondary education.
The education leaders CBS47 talked to say the budget cuts will reduce the enrollment numbers in early childhood programs. "That impact would be horrible," said Head Start director Tamala Olsby.
The early childhood program would lose $2.7 million if sequestration goes through. "That means I'm closing at least 3 of my 34 sites... 52 employees would go to unemployment," said Olsby.
Olsby says they were able to avoid the chopping block in the past, but she's not sure this time around. "This one seems certain, and that scares me. It scares me for the kids and the families that we serve," said Olsby.
Sequestration would have an effect on the Fresno Unified School District as well, though no specific details were mentioned at Monday's press conference.
Fresno Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson says he'll deal with it when he has firm numbers. "Give us the dollar value that's got to be cut and let us figure out how we can best do that to serve our local community," said Hanson.
Congressman Tom McClintock believes the cuts are a small price to pay. "The sequester comes to 2% and that's after a 64% increase in spending.
But to education leaders, sequestration is a major cause for concern. "That is 273 children that I could not serve," said Olsby.
The deadline for Congress to come up with a budget to avoid the automatic cuts is Friday, March 1st.
