Head Start could run out of money by Oct. 1, chairman says

The financially maligned agency that doles out money for Head Start programs for poor children is set to run out of funding by Oct. 1, the chairman of the agency confirmed during a tense two-hour meeting with parents and community members Wednesday night.

Chairman Levy Berry also said the board asked Patsy Gardner to resign July 27 "after we had concrete evidence" of problems at the Moncks Corner-based Berkeley-Dorchester Counties Economic Development Corp.

Berry painted a picture of an agency not functioning properly, with information kept from the board, frequent turnover in key money-handling positions, and only four of 15 board members' slots filled at one point this past spring.

"The board was not given accurate information and was kept out of the loop on several things," Berry said.

He said the board is doing everything it can to find funds to keep the agency afloat through year's end. The agency is facing a $1.2 million deficit and a call from the state to return $283,000 within a month.

A report released Monday by the State Office of Economic Opportunity says the EDC repeatedly violated regulations governing how state and federal money should be spent on such programs as Head Start. It issued 13 findings that must be corrected within 30 days or the agency could possibly lose its contract.

Those findings portray an agency that commingled state and federal funds, didn't follow correct procedures, maintained poor financial records and issued large-sum checks to EDC employees without justification.

Read more in Friday's editions of The Post and Courier.