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CHARLOTTE – E-mails are being sent to donors and lawmakers, anyone that can help Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools avoid cuts to Bright Beginnings. The district is proposing reducing the pre-kindergarten program by more than 2,000 students.

"It is another cut in a series of cuts that have disproportionately impacted those who are most at risk," Janet Singerman, President of the early childhood advocacy group Child Care Resources said. "Those who are poor and minority communities."

On Tuesday, passionate families and advocates packed the Government Center asking the school board to find other options.

"Go to the state legislature and say this is unacceptable," one speaker said.

Parents not only told the board about the programs benefits, they also brought their children to show the results. In response the board agreed to delay the vote and maybe the inevitable.

"How do we continue funding something ongoing that we really don't have the revenue to do," CMS Superintendent Dr. Peter Gorman asked.

Right now, no one has the answers. Early childhood advocates like Singerman are considering ways Bright Beginnings can operate more efficiently, soliciting donations and lobbying the district to consider other areas to cut.

"Cutting pre-k now will have a cost to the system for 12 years," Singerman said.

That's a cut, she says, the district cannot afford.