DANVILLE — A roomful of Fair Oaks preschool children were blissfully unaware that details in Illinois Gov. Quinn’s budget address Wednesday could affect school district programs aimed at them and their families.

The children, playing with students and staff in Danville District 118’s twice annual Family Fun Day at the housing authority’s community building, enjoyed activity stations as their parents attended a seminar noting the importance of earning a GED certificate.

“If nothing new happens, this will probably be eliminated next year,” said Diane Rew, District 118 Pre-kindergarten coordinator. “It really saddens me.”

She said several “prevention” initiatives aimed at children up to 3 years old — all grant-funded — could disappear if the district follows through on cutting them based on anticipated state funding shortfalls.

Later in the day, Quinn announced an across-the-board education funding cut of 17 percent, a figure he said could be whittled down if the Illinois Legislature would also approve a “temporary” 1 percent income tax.

The fun day activity has for years allowed parents and grandparents at Fair Oaks to drop their kids off for an hour as they attend an information seminar covering topics including health care and child development. On Wednesday, in addition to a GED speaker, nearly 50 attendees heard about adult-education classes offered at Danville Area Community College and then had a spaghetti dinner together.

Grant funding also serves nearly 600 children in the county through the preschool program and includes staff that conducts one-on-one home visits to track progress and help families help their children consider the importance of classroom success.

“This reaches out to families who don’t always have a chance or know where to go to see what the community has to offer,” Rew said. “This is our opportunity to start relationships at early stages. It’s something that’s going to pay off and actually be cheaper for us down the road. This age is such an important age to reach.”

Residents said fun day is a big event at Fair Oaks.

“There’s not a lot of things to do with your kids around here,” said Rochell Butler, a grandmother who has brought her children to Fun Day activities for years.

“This is something to do and we learn things, too,” added grandmother Bibinette Townsend. “It’s always very educational.”

“We look forward to it,” said grandparent Debra Matchem.

Danville Housing Authority Family Services Director Tamera Forthenberry said the fun day activity is one of many partnerships leaders have formed with the community.

“This is one way the kids and parents can get familiar with the school district so it’s not so threatening,” she said. “When they get to school they already have a connection and it’s maybe not so intimidating.”

She said many of the programs through the Fair Oaks Family Enrichment Center are offered by Connections and Carter AME churches.

“We think the early childhood programs are very important here and we have a lot of partnerships,” she said.

Forthenberry said grant funding for Housing Authority youth-outreach and parent-support programs had not been specifically threatened at this point, but that late payments have made budgeting difficult.

“It’s come in, but it’s come in slowly,” she said.

“Although it’s called fun day, it’s as much for the parents as it is the children,” said Jana Goodwin, District 118 parent-involvement coordinator, whose position is threatened under the proposed district cuts.

“We try to offer parents educational programming that’s already out in the community,” she said. “A lot of these programs are very focused on literacy.”

Goodwin is responsible for district-wide programming that includes Big Guy Night for dads and kids, regularly scheduled reading nights and annual family events held at Village Mall in April.

“It means a lot to make that first contact,” she said. “It lets parents feel comfortable coming into school and getting involved with their kids’ education.”