House Committee Approves Head Start Reauthorization Bill - Women's Congressional Policy Institute

On March 14, the House Education and Labor Committee approved, 42-1, the “Improving Head Start Act of 2007” (H.R. 1429) to reauthorize the Head Start Act (P.L. 105-285) through FY2012. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved a similar bill on February 14 (see The Source, 2/16/07).

In his opening remarks, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) stated, “Head Start has been the premier early education program in this country for more than 40 years and has served more than 20 million children and families in that time. The program remains a cornerstone in this country’s efforts to combat poverty and provide all its citizens with the opportunity to thrive.” He continued, “It is a highly successful, research-based, comprehensive child development and early education program for both low-income children, from birth to age five, and their families.”

In a press release, Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) said, “Through the reauthorization of Head Start, we strive to retain the original goal of enabling economically disadvantaged children to access the same educational, health, nutritional, and social services that are enjoyed by their more advantaged peers while remaining focused on ways to further close the school readiness gap.” He added, “The legislation builds upon efforts made in the last Congress to evolve education performance standards, create greater coordination and collaboration between states and local school districts in Head Start.”

The bill would increase funding for the program to $7.35 billion in FY2008 an increase of $500 million over FY2007 and “such sums as necessary” through FY2012. The bill would increase teacher and staff salaries, and funding for professional development, training and technical assistance; provide better services to children with limited English proficiency; and allow Head Start programs to use up to 10 percent of their quality improvement funds for transportation costs.

Several other amendments the committee approved by voice vote include:

increasing the annual income level at which families become eligible for Head Start from $20,560 to $26,728;
gathering and distributing information about asthma and air quality to Head Start programs;
conducting a study on childhood obesity and, in consultation with the secretary of Education, developing methods to combat it;
providing for linguistically and culturally appropriate instruction for language minority students; and
providing up to $17,500 in student loan forgiveness for Head Start teachers who have at least an associate’s degree and work at least three years in a Head Start program.After a lengthy and contentious debate, the committee defeated, 19-26, an amendment offered by Res. Com. Luis Fortuño (R-PR) that would have permitted faith-based Head Start providers to hire employees based on religious preference. The committee also defeated, 18-26, an amendment by Rep Tom Price (R-GA) to create a pilot demonstration program that would have allowed eight states to control their Head Start programs with the goal of closing the readiness gap. Finally, the committee defeated, 4-39, an amendment by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) that sought to change from a standard to a goal the requirement that 50 percent of Head Start teachers have a four-year degree by the year 2014.