Carty Finkbeiner had two words Tuesday for big players clamoring to get hold of the city's Head Start program: Hands off.

The former mayor, who was flanked by a number of central Toledo ministers during a morning news conference, asserted that the Economic Opportunity Planning Association of Greater Toledo should be left alone and allowed to continue operating Head Start programs.

Mr. Finkbeiner, who has inserted himself into the debate over the agency's operations, said a task-force report recommending that administration of millions of dollars from the federal government for Head Start should be separated -- possibly through the formation of a limited liability company -- is flawed. He also said other entities such as Toledo Public Schools are interested only in grabbing that cash from the agency.

"The Head Start program is the centerpiece of EOPA," he said. "The $15 million to $20 million it brings to EOPA annually has become a very sought-after prize in the year 2012."

The task-force recommendations were made public Monday. The task force, which is made up of representatives from the University of Toledo, TPS, the EOPA board, Springfield and Washington Local schools, local churches, and other organizations, was assembled by the Toledo Community Foundation to examine Head Start programs. More than 2,000 children ages 3 to 5 from low-income families are enrolled in Head Start in Lucas County.

EOPA was notified recently that it must compete with other agencies if it wants to continue receiving nearly $13 million in federal funds to run Head Start locally.

EOPA board member Sylvester Gould said during Tuesday's news conference that the agency did not participate in the task force and called it an injustice and unfair.

"We had two board members who had less than six months' tenure on the board who were part of the task force, but they represented the interests of Keith Burwell, the president, CEO of Toledo Community Foundation. They were his hand-picked choices," he said.

Mr. Gould said he also opposes setting up a limited-liability company.

He said EOPA would negotiate with the county, city, UT, and TPS about a "new approach" to the delivery of Head Start services.

He acknowledged the reason EOPA is in danger of losing Head Start.

"We left a kid on a bus unattended for about 15 minutes. That's a zero-tolerance policy. … We were wrong. We paid the price for that," Mr. Gould said.

Mr. Finkbeiner said EOPA employs 350 people with that money who would be laid off if TPS got its hands on Head Start.

He said that although Head Start works mostly with black children, no African-American was invited to discuss the takeover of the Head Start program and its annual budget.

"Only when public criticism about the absence of minorities from the evaluation process was noted did Afro-Americans get appointed," Mr. Finkbeiner said. "The overwhelming participants in these discussions were not only Caucasians, but have never taught in a children's classroom."

Mr. Finkbeiner said the chronicled problems at EOPA -- including an internal investigation that revealed federal money was spent for mowing lots that did not exist, on community gardens that were never developed, and that the agency hired a convicted felon to work with senior citizens -- pale in comparison to scandals elsewhere in the city.

"All of a sudden, the good-ole white-boy network in downtown Toledo is focused upon EOPA while overlooking the major millions of dollars that have been lost by major institutions in Toledo, and nobody moved in and tried to rearrange the chairs on those institutions."

Mr. Finkbeiner mentioned a TPS scandal in which its former business manager, Dan Burns, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the district between 2002 and 2006.

Mr. Gould said at a meeting last week the idea that EOPA was represented on the task force was "a bunch of malarkey," referring to Aaron Baker, assistant vice president for government relations at UT, and the Rev. Donald Perryman, the two EOPA members chosen by the foundation for the committee.

The Rev. Willie Perryman, pastor of Jerusalem Baptist Church on Dorr Street and a cousin of the Rev. Donald Perryman, stood alongside Mr. Finkbeiner and Mr. Gould during the news conference on the steps of One Government Center.

"We are praying for the right thing," Willie Perryman said after the news conference.

The Rev. Kevin Bedford, president of the Toledo NAACP chapter, said there was no community input in the task-force report.

"It seems like we have some kind of justification now that it has been documented as to how we can take over EOPA, how we can dismantle the program. … I think Mr. Burwell owes it to our community to tell us who funded this report," Mr. Bedford said.

Mr. Burwell later said the foundation paid for the task force, and its cost was minimal because the members volunteered.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171.

First Published March 27, 2012, 4:52 p.m.