On October 29, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved, 21-0, a bill (as-yet-unnumbered) to reauthorize Head Start through FY2007.
The measure would increase funding for Head Start by $400 million in each of the next three years, authorizing $7.2 billion for FY2005, $7.6 billion in FY2006, and $8 billion for FY2007. It also would increase the set-aside for Early Head Start from 10 percent to 18 percent by FY2009 and would expand eligibility from 100 percent to 130 percent of the federal poverty level.
The bill would establish “outcome standards” requiring all Head Start students to master the alphabet, recognize numbers, and have the ability to measure lengths, weights, and time. After a draft of the bill was released, Democrats objected to a number of provisions, including the outcome standards. Prior to the mark-up, a bipartisan compromise was substituted for the draft bill. Under the compromise, the National Academy of Sciences would review the proposed outcome standards before they are implemented and would make the final recommendations. In addition, regular assessments of Head Start children would only be used to improve curriculum in the program, and federal funding would not be linked to the results of the assessments.
The measure would require Head Start teachers to have at least an associate’s degree and Head Start curriculum specialists and coordinators to have at least a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education by 2009.
In addition, the bill would require the review of every Head Start center at least once every three years and would institute unannounced inspections of Head Start centers.
Finally, the measure would place a salary cap on Head Start employees not to exceed the salary of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
In a statement released by his office after the mark-up, Chair Judd Gregg (R-NH) stated, “The bipartisan compromise proposal we reached today marks a significant commitment to putting children first. This bill reaffirms the Head Start program’s primary purpose: helping to ensure that low-income children have an opportunity to enter school ready to learn with the rest of their peers.”
The House approved a bill (H.R. 2210) to reauthorize Head Start in July (see The Source, 7/25/05). There are two major differences between the House and Senate proposals: 1) the House bill would establish a pilot program that would allow eight states to use federal Head Start funds for their own early childhood programs and 2) the House bill would allow Head Start centers operated by religious groups to hire staff on the basis of religious preferences. The Senate bill does not contain these provisions.
The Senate is expected to consider the Head Start reauthorization bill early next year.
