NSBA supports provisions in the House bill that call for Head Start agencies to align their curriculum with that of local school districts. Such an alignment “will ensure a smoother academic and social transition as children move from Head Start to public schools,” says Dan Fuller, director of federal programs at NSBA.
School board members should be concerned about Head Start because “children who come from Head Start programs end up in the public schools,” Fuller says. “For too long kids have been showing up in school not prepared to learn.”
The Senate’s Head Start Improvements for School Readiness Act (S.1107), approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee May 25, would require all Head Start grantees to re-compete for funds every five years when their contracts expire. The bill would allow the federal government to terminate their contracts earlier if necessary.
ýnder the School Readiness Act of 2005 (H.R.2123), approved by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce May 18, Head Start agencies would be sorted into several categories. An agency given a “priority” designation would be able to continue to receive grant money on a preferential basis.
To be considered a “priority” agency, a local Head Start program would have to align its objectives for school readiness with state K-12 content standards. These agencies also would have to demonstrate active partnership with local school districts serving the same community.
A Head Start agency labeled “deficient” would have to compete for grant money with other agencies and will have no guarantee of receiving federal funds.
According to the National Head Start Association, there are approximately 2,730 grantees and agencies that run 20,000 Head Start and Early Head Start centers.
Head Start is currently funded at $6.8 billion and serves approximately 981,000 low-income preschool-age children. Early Head Start serves 90,800 children up to age 3.
The House bill would retain the current funding level for fiscal year 2006, while the Senate bill would authorize $7.2 billion.
Several Democratic members of the House said they would offer amendments on the floor to add more funding and raise teacher pay.
Average pay for a Head Start teacher with a bachelor’s degree is about $26,000, while both bills would impose tougher requirements for teacher qualifications. “Nothing stops those teachers from taking a job in a kindergarten classroom that pays much more,” says Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House committee.
Both bills would reduce the role of parent councils. Instead of having authority over budgeting and staffing decisions, these groups would be relegated to an advisory role.
Both bills also include new financial disclosure requirements, including the establishment of local governance boards to provide direction and oversee all program activities. The boards also would have to work with local school districts to ensure that children entering kindergarten are adequately prepared and that the Head Start program is aligned with that of the school district.
The governance boards would be required to document strong financial controls and employ a well-qualified chief financial officer with a history of successful management of a public or private organization. They would have to provide a public report of all revenue resources and expenditures and undergo an annual independent audit.
A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found serious flaws in Head Start’s financial control system, leaving it open to multimillion-dollar financial abuses.
Windy Hill, the federal director of Head Start, resigned abruptly May 27, amid an investigation by the Health and Human Services inspector general of financial abuses at a Head Start program she previously ran in Bastrop, Texas.
Both bills strengthen Head Start’s academic standards by emphasizing cognitive development and the results of scientifically based research in topics critical to children’s school readiness.
These topics include language, pre-reading, pre-mathematics, and English language acquisition.
The sponsor of the House bill, Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.), chair of the Education Reform Subcommittee, says: “Students who attend Head Start programs start school more prepared than those with similar backgrounds that do not attend Head Start. However, Head Start students continue to enter kindergarten well below national norms in school readiness.”
“By moving to close this school readiness gap,” Castle says, “this bill will improve results for almost a million Head Start students across the nation.”
While emphasizing academics, the bills retain the existing health and nutrition services provided to Head Start children and their families.
Neither bill mandates new testing, although they retain the National Reporting System. A recent GAO study found that assessment to be flawed and the results invalid.
Both bills would improve teacher quality by ensuring a greater number of Head Start teachers have degrees and are adequately trained in early childhood development.
The House bill calls for at least 50 percent of a Head Start center’s current teaching staff to have an associate’s degree. The Senate bill would require all teachers to have an associate’s degree, but not until 2010.
The Senate bill also would require half of Head Start teachers to have a bachelor’s degree by 2011 and all assistant teachers to have child development associate credentials or be on track to get them by 2008.
The Senate bill would expand the number of children eligible for Head Start by raising the income requirement from 100 percent of the poverty level to 130 percent. The House would not change the income limit.
When Congress last considered Head Start legislation two years ago, a proposal to combine federal Head Start and state early childhood education programs into a block grant faced strong opposition from Head Start advocates. No such provision is included in the current bills.
The bill passed by the House in 2003 watered down that proposal, calling for a block grant pilot program in up to eight states.
Congress did not revise Head Start then because the Senate failed to pass a bill. Instead, Congress merely extended the existing Head Start program without change.
A spokesperson for the House committee says the current bill “takes a different approach to the same goal. It will improve state and local coordination in all 50 states. It’s less controversial but more effective than a pilot program.”
When the bill comes up on the House floor, House Education and the Workforce Chair John Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to add language to allow religious groups operating Head Start programs to restrict their staff members to people of the group’s religion.
According to Boehner, faith-based organizations should not have to give up their right to take an applicant’s religion into account when hiring Head Start staff.
A committee spokesperson acknowledges that this so-called “charitable choice” proposal will likely be a matter of intense debate on the House floor, but notes that the House recently passed a job training bill with a similar provision.
In announcing his opposition to such a provision, Miller said, “Religious discrimination has no place in federal law, but it would be particularly offensive in a bill designed to advance children’s civil rights.”