A Santa Barbara congressman has criticized the cutting of a federally funded program that provides early childhood education at no cost to low-income families.
The Head Start program has helped thousands of children in the Tri-Counties, said Democratic Rep. Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara.
"Head Start provides what I would call an even start for children that come from [economically] challenging circumstances," Carbajal told KCLU on Friday.
Carbajal said thousands of families will be negatively impacted in the region.
"This [closure] is going to impact 100,000 children here on the Central Coast and the rest of the Region 9 area. This is tragic, and I know firsthand the difference that Head Start programs make in the lives of these children and their families," he said. "This is immoral what this administration's doing. They are dismantling important programs that are lifelines to so many in our communities, in this case, children."
