On May 11, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Education Reform approved, by voice vote, a bill (H.R. 2123) to reauthorize Head Start through FY2011. Head Start and Early Head Start, administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, are comprehensive child development programs for children from birth to age five, pregnant women, and their families with the goal of preparing young children in low-income families for school.
Sponsored by Subcommittee Chair Mike Castle (R-DE), the School Readiness Act of 2005 would give states a greater role in local Head Start programs, broaden safeguards against financial abuse, and establish higher educational standards for teachers. The bill would authorize $6.9 billion in funding for Head Start in FY2006 and such sums as are necessary for FY2007 through FY2011.
Under the measure, within three years of enactment, all new Head Start teachers would be required to have an associate’s degree or be enrolled in a program working towards that degree; by 2010, 50 percent of all Head Start teachers would be required to have a bachelor’s degree; and those who have received financial assistance to meet the bill’s requirements would be required to teach in a Head Start program for an amount of time equal to the time period in which they received financial assistance. H.R. 2123 also would require all Head Start programs to create professional development plans for full-time employees who provide direct services to children.
To address the needs of children in migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, the bill would: guarantee a share of funding for those programs, increase the focus on ensuring children in migrant and seasonal Head Start programs make progress in learning English, and allow greater flexibility for rural, migrant and seasonal programs to meet staff qualification requirements. The bill also adds a clarification making homeless children eligible for Head Start.
H.R. 2123 adds language to promote child health services and physical development in Head Start programs, while reauthorizing and extending the existing health and nutrition-related components of Head Start. Additionally, the measure would require the secretary of education to contract with the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council to establish an independent panel of experts to research and make recommendations on early childhood pedagogy. The pilot programs for eight states, a controversial aspect of previous legislation (H.R. 2120, see The Source, 6/13/03), were not included in H.R. 2123. Under the pilot programs, states would have been allowed to receive block grants to coordinate their state’s early education programs with Head Start (see The Source, 6/20/03).
Rep. Castle stated, “We can all agree on the need for Head Start, and we all applaud its successes. We must also recognize that Head Start can produce even greater results for children. Students who attend Head Start programs do 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, this bill will improve results for almost a million Head Start students across the nation.”
Acknowledging that “there are many positive things” about the bill, Ranking Member Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) nevertheless expressed her concerns: “I want to be sure that any re-competition provisions focus on poorly performing programs, not programs that are meeting the law’s high standards…I want to be sure that in aligning Head Start standards with local education standards, we do not do anything that would dilute Head Start’s high performance standards. Finally, while I appreciate that today’s bill does not mention religious hiring preferences, I know that the Majority intends to raise that on the floor, where I intend to oppose it as strongly as ever.”
During consideration of the bill, the subcommittee approved, by voice vote, a substitute amendment by Rep. Castle that, in addition to making technical changes to the bill, would improve migrant and seasonal worker Head Start programs by authorizing 5 percent of total funding for such programs. Also adopted, by voice vote, was an amendment by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) that would promote physical education and nutrition programs for Head Start children.
The subcommittee rejected, 8-8, an amendment by Rep. Woolsey that would have increased Head Start funding to $8.5 billion in FY2006, $10.1 billion in FY2007, $11.8 billion in FY2008, $13.4 billion in FY2009, $15.1 billion in FY2010, and $16.7 billion in FY2011. The amendment also would have increased funding for grants for family-centered services for low-income families with young children from 10 percent in FY2006 to 12 percent in FY2006, 14 percent in FY2007, 18 percent in FY2008, and 20 percent in each of FY2010 and FY2011.
Also rejected, 7-9, was an amendment by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) that would have authorized $340 million in FY2006 to grant stipends to Head Start teachers with college and advanced degrees. The funding also could have been used for Head Start teachers to pursue such degrees.
Several amendments were withdrawn, including: an amendment by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) that would have safeguarded current Head Start services from funding cuts; an amendment by Rep. Davis that would have supported the participation and training of grandparents and other non-parental caregivers for Head Start programs; and two amendments by Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX) that would have eased staff qualification requirements for rural and migrant Head Start programs under certain conditions and would have ensured that non-certified bilingual teachers comply with equivalent Head Start teacher certification and licensure standards.
During the 108th Congress, legislation (S. 1940, H.R. 2210) to reauthorize Head Start was approved by the House; however, the full Senate did not consider the measure (see the 108th Congress At-A-Glance, 11/23/04).
