The kids at Hernando Head Start spent part of Friday making gifts for Mother’s Day. They had no idea that their teacher, Amy Carroll, is one of the reasons they are still in school.

"We feel that it's very important for each one of these children to have the head start that they need to be school ready,” said Carroll.

Faced with $472,000 in sequestration budget cuts, the teachers decided to take the hit. They gave up their retirement benefits for six months. It was a decision that weighed heavily on director, Heidi Rand.

"We really just did not want to cut services to our children,” said Rand. “And in turn if you cut the services for the children that means that you're also cutting hours for your staff because if you're closing your school two weeks early your staff (isn’t) working. So, we were just trying really hard to find a way that we could do this."

Mid Florida Community Services operates the Hernando Head Start as well as programs in Volusia and Sumter counties. The cuts are across the board.

Since retirement benefits were not enough the staff is also cleaning the buildings themselves once a week.

Some teacher’s hours have also been cut.

It is a scary situation for parents who depend on the schools.

"Even if I did have the funding to take my kids to the daycare I still would want them to go to Head Start,” said Amanda Thomas who has a daughter at the school. “Because of the experience that, not only I was a Head Start kid from Georgia, but the experience that you have you can't get anywhere else.”

There are more than 400 kids on the waiting list who qualify to have a spot in one of the classrooms.

If the cuts continue, there will be one less classroom at the Hernando Head Start next year. 

"We've been told: you stick with the same budget you have now. We're not sure what's going to happen,” said Rand.

"We're just trying to stay strong for the children that we have. We're just praying for the best,” said Carroll.

Last week Mid Florida Community Services was notified to cut an additional $12,000, bringing the total cuts to 5.27 percent of the program’s budget.