Florida's 31 early learning coalitions have united against a new funding formula they say was crafted without their input and imposed on short notice.
Both the winners and losers are asking the state Office of Early Learning to freeze the current formula and review it before making more cuts.One of the biggest losers was the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. It lost $3.7 million for the current budget year and is slated to lose a total of more than $22 million over five years.
Its executive director, Evelio Torres, says none of the coalitions want to see this year's difficulties repeated.
"We certainly do not want to see any other area of the state going through what we went through in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, because we know how difficult it was for us, the families and children that we serve, and also for the business owners and the private businesses that were also impacted through these reductions", said Torres.
The state Office of Early Learning says the formula was designed to restore funding equity to the coalitions.
So far, the office hasn't replied to the coalitions' October 15th request for a freeze.