Education

Jeffco’s Head Start program could serve 400 fewer kids during the next school year as a result of across-the-board federal funding cuts known as sequestration. 

The 5 percent budget cut would mean about $152,000 less for the county’s Head Start program. Lynn Johnson, Jeffco’s human services director, said the cuts would mean laying off three teachers, and 96 fewer families — about 400 kids — would not be able to participate in the program during the 2013-14 school year. 

The Jeffco school board approved a 2013-14 budget totaling $952 million at its meeting May 30, a spending plan that adds $22 million to current-year expenditures.

The increase comes thanks to a boost in funding from the state and to the tax hike approved by voters last November. The budget still is $45 million less than the 2009-10 spending plan.

The district avoided $45 million in cuts this year when Jeffco voters approved 3A and 3B on last November’s ballot. The district’s mill-levy rate is 48.721, or $388 annually for a $100,000 home.

This week, the Jeffco Library is giving away a free book to any 4-year-old in the county who wants one. 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor had a simple message for the 100 or so kids gathered in the new Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center in Denver on May 2.

No matter what you choose to do when you grow up, do something that excites you.

“What you do best are the things you’re passionate about. They don’t have to be important to anyone but you,” Sotomayor said. “What’s important is, as my mother always said, that you do what you’re doing well and that you like doing it.”