Louisiana's pre-kindergarten program for children from low-income families would suffer its first ever reduction under the budget that won final approval in the Legislature earlier this week, state Superintendent of Education John White said Thursday.

The program is called LA4, enrolls about 16,000 children and offers full-day classes.

It was launched in 2001 to better prepare children for kindergarten, and prevent them from starting behind their peers at the outset of school.

White, during a meeting with the Superintendents' Advisory Council, said the potential cut, which has gotten little attention, stems from a 24 percent reduction that would target the state Department of Education.

He told local superintendents that, for a variety of reasons, LA4 would be reduced because of limitations in making other reductions to his agency.

White said the rollback would include the elimination of some seats for students.

He told local superintendents the impact would translate into a 10 percent or 20 percent cut to their programs.

Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to call another special session to tackle the state's latest budget problem, this one a $648 million shortfall for state services starting July 1.

Again, state aid for public schools will go unchanged for 2018-19 school year Basic state aid for public schools will be frozen for the 10th time in 11 years under legislation that won final approval Thursday in the Loui…

That means the budget approved earlier this year could be revamped, including LA4, if Edwards and the Legislature can agree on revenue-raising measures.

White told local superintendents that he has a hard time envisioning the Legislature "sending a bunch of pre-K kids home."

He said most of the department's key staff members are paid with federal dollars, which largely eliminates them as a target to trim department spending.

Reduced state aid for students from low-income families to attend private schools at state expense, called vouchers, would be absorbed by the Minimum Foundation Program, which finances public schools statewide.

After the meeting, White said he told Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne's office that his department, in a worst case scenario, could absorb about half of the reduction.

"I think that would render the services the department offers almost non-existent," he said.

"But at a certain point I think it has to go to the programs we operate," White said. "And the only program that we operate that actually ends up saving the state money if you cut it is LA4."

He added, "It us unconscionable to think about cutting pre-kindergarten. But it is what this budget does."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte, who handled the operating budget in the Senate, said White's concerns point up what happens when the two chambers failed to agree on how to close the shortfall.

The Senate backed a plan to extend the current, 1 percent sales tax set to expire on June 30 by one-half, in part to avoid education reductions.

The House earlier supported extending it by one-third but a second effort to do so just before adjournment on Monday night failed by a wide margin.

"This is not the only problem," LaFleur said Thursday of possible LA4 cuts. "There is a series of problems out there."

Under the budget, college students for the 2018-19 school year would get 70 percent of their traditional award under the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS.

"The Senate was well aware of what was in the budget," LaFleur said. "Clearly they thought half a penny was definitely worth it."

Under the latest budget, the state Department of Education's spending plan would be sliced by about $25 million.

The state is spending $74 million for LA4 this year, including $34 million in state funds and $40 million in federal aid for the 4-year-olds.

Louisiana was a latecomer to offering a state-run pre-kindergarten program when it began 17 years ago.

The late Cecil Picard, who was state superintendent at the time and a onetime state senator, played a key role in convincing the Legislature to finance the classes.

The official name of the effort is the Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program.