Policy committee hears Head Start update: enrollment, grant amounts and reimbursement status

The Acadia Parish policy committee heard a Head Start program update on Jan. 27 detailing funding guidance, enrollment and the program's reimbursement status following a recent federal funding interruption.

Speaker 5 summarized actions taken with the Office of Head Start and Southwest program specialist Andrea Villafana, saying a funding guidance letter was received on Jan. 12, 2026. Speaker 5 told the committee the program can apply for "3,450,681 for program ops operations and then $37,607 for training and technical assistance," and reported current federally funded enrollment at 314 slots. The application deadline for continuation was given as April 1, 2026.

Committee members asked about enrollment trends from prior years; Speaker 2 and other members observed that enrollment has been "down a little bit" compared with previous years, while Speaker 5 said the program is "in fully enrolled right now." Speaker 1 asked whether money taken from the general fund during a federal government shutdown had been repaid; Speaker 4 explained that Head Start operates on a reimbursement basis — "the school board actually always pays for the salaries and benefits and all the materials and supplies first" — and confirmed, "So, yes, we have been reimbursed."

Operational issues were also noted: Speaker 5 said some Head Start sites had been without water and power for about 48 hours but that utilities might be restored the next day.

Next steps: the policy committee will proceed with the Head Start application process ahead of the April 1 deadline and continue monitoring enrollment and operational readiness at sites affected by utilities outages.