Altoona parents Joelle and Jason Peragine are making tough choices after receiving a letter telling them their 4-year-old son Devin could become one of the local educational casualties of a state budget cut.

The Peragines are one of several area families who would be affected by state budget cuts to education funding.

Child Advocates of Blair County Inc. - the umbrella company for Blair County Head Start - recently sent out letters to parents explaining program cuts and staff reductions that hinge on the outcome of the state budget.

Altoona Area School District announced last month that it could reduce its full-day kindergarten program because of the budget uncertainty.

Head Start, which receives federal and state money, is for children who are at least 3 years old and have not started kindergarten

and whose total family income is below 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, according to the state Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program. Total funding received from the program is $530,072.

A qualifying family of four would have an income of less than $22,050 annually, it states.

Child Advocates' Head Start centers are located in Tyrone, Claysburg, Fairview, Foot of Ten, Greenwood, Hollidaysburg, Martinsburg, Roaring Spring and Williamsburg, and at Wright, Washington and Jefferson, Penn-Lincoln and Juniata elementary schools, as well as Stevens Community Education Center.

If a budget passes with a 50 percent cut as Senate Bill 850 is proposing, the Williamsburg and Foot of Ten centers, which are 100 percent state funded, will close, leaving 24 children's families scrambling to find an alternative by the end of the month, the agency said.

Seven staff members will remain unemployed from the school's summer break until further notice.

Center hours at Fairview, Hollidaysburg, Juniata, Martinsburg, and Washington and Jefferson and Wright elementary school center hours will be reduced from six-hour days to three-and-a-half-hour days for 102 children and 18 staff members. Those centers receive 50 percent of funding from the state.

The staff members would go to part-time status and would lose benefits.

Other programs under threat include Pre-K Counts in Claysburg and Martinsburg, Parent/Child Home Program and the Teen Link Connection for pregnant and parenting teens, Child Advocates/ Head Start executive director Ruthann Akers said.

She said if the state makes further cuts, layoffs will happen in the Head Start program, but if the budget comes back in favor of the programs, reinstatement would occur.

The Peragines said they cannot afford to pay for day care for Devin and their two other children - Emily, 3, and Jayce, 1.

If Head Start is not a choice for their family, Jason plans to quit his sales job to stay home with the kids. Joelle works at Valley View Nursing Home and is working toward becoming a certified nursing assistant and eventually a licensed practical nurse.

"I fear for our kids' future in this country," Jason said. "As a father, I'm worried."

Joelle started an online petition to collect signatures asking legislators to keep Blair County's Head Start programs running. To sign the petition, go to www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveheadstartbc.