Head Start In the News

President Bush Signs "Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007" Into Law View the complete press release here.

Today I signed into law the "Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007," a bill to reauthorize Head Start. Over the past 40 years, Head Start has provided comprehensive child-development services to more than 20 million low-income children and their families to promote school readiness. Because of the National Reporting System, we know that more Head Start programs are helping children gain early reading and math skills. But we must take steps to improve Head Start to ensure that low-income children arrive at school ready to learn.

I am pleased that this bill addresses several longstanding Administration priorities, such as increased competition among Head Start providers, improved coordination of early childhood delivery systems, and stronger educational performance standards. Increasing competition for providers will help ensure that we offer the highest quality programs to our nation's most vulnerable young children. Greater collaboration among Head Start agencies, schools, and other programs serving young children, will help ensure our investments are better aligned and more effective. Stronger educational performance standards and an emphasis on research-based curricula and classroom practices will increase children's preparedness for school. I also support the bill's provisions to strengthen fiscal accountability and program oversight, so that dollars intended to serve children are spent wisely.

I am, however, deeply disappointed that the bill ends the National Reporting System, our only tool to examine consistently how Head Start children are performing in programs across the nation. We should be working to provide more and better data to parents, teachers, and policymakers, not less. I am concerned that the bill authorizes spending levels higher than those proposed in my budget. Approval of this legislation is not an endorsement of these funding levels or a commitment to request them. I am also disappointed that the bill fails to include my proposal to protect faith-based organizations' religious hiring autonomy.

I thank Members of both parties in Congress who worked on this legislation. I will continue to work with Congress to ensure that our neediest children are prepared for success in school and a lifetime of achievement.

HR 1429 - Legislation to Reauthorize Head Start - was signed on
December 12, 2007. Download the conference report here. (PDF file)

CQ TODAY - EDUCATION June 19, 2007 - 9:28 p.m.
Senate Passes Head Start Reauthorization; Moves to Go to Conference With House By Kathleen Hunter, CQ Staff

The Senate passed its version of legislation [Tuesday] that would renew a longstanding early childhood development program that targets low-income youth.

The Senate version of the bill (HR 1429) - which passed by voice vote - would authorize increased funding to expand the Head Start program. The measure would authorize $7.3 billion in fiscal 2008, $400 million more than was provided this year (PL 110-5). The bill calls for funding to grow to $7.5 billion in fiscal 2009 and $7.9 billion in fiscal 2010.

"This legislation builds on Head Start's proven track record, sets ambitious goals to expand the program, and upgrades Head Start's educational services to better focus on preparing children for school," said Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Members of the HELP Committee were appointed to serve as conferees with the House, which also called for a funding increase in its version of the bill, which that chamber passed May 2 by a vote of 365-48.

Unlike the House bill, the Senate measure would provide $100 million for a new state incentive grant program, a priority of Kennedy's. The Senate bill also would more broadly expand Head Start eligibility and would reconfigure the program to give Head Start officials - rather than parents - a larger role.

An aide said Senate-passed bill is nearly identical to a bipartisan compromise (S 556) that Kennedy's committee approved by voice vote Feb. 14.

The last Head Start reauthorization, enacted in 1998 (PL 105-285), expired in 2003. It has been extended by annual appropriations since then.

Senate Passes Head Start Bill
June 19, 2007 -- The US Senate passed S 556, The Head Start for School Readiness Act by a unanimous vote! Having passed in both the House and Senate, the bill will proceed to a conference committee of senators and representatives to work out differences in the versions of the bill each chamber approved.

CRS Report RL 33968 Head Start Reauthorization: A Side-by-Side Comparison of H.R. 1429, S. 556, and Current Law
Head Start, a federal program that has provided comprehensive early childhood development services to low-income children since 1965, was last reauthorized in 1998 for fiscal years 1999-2003. The program has remained funded in subsequent years through the annual appropriations process. After unsuccessful efforts by the past two Congresses to complete the reauthorization process, the 110th Congress has begun its efforts in the House and Senate. In both chambers, bills to amend and reauthorize the Head Start Act through FY2012 have been introduced, amended, and reported by the respective committees of jurisdiction. The Improving Head Start Act of 2007 (H.R. 1429) was introduced by Representative Kildee on March 9, 2007. The following week, the House Committee on Education and Labor debated, amended, and approved the bill (42-1), and the committee?s written report accompanying the legislation (H.Rept. 110-67) was filed on March 23, 2007. The Head Start for School Readiness Act (S. 556) was introduced by Senator Kennedy on February 12, 2007, and approved via voice vote by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on February 14. The Chairman?s amended version of the bill was subsequently reported on March 29, 2007, with a written report (S.Rept. 110-49) filed April 10, 2007. Both reauthorization bills propose to amend Head Start with the purpose of improving the program?s ability to promote low-income children?s school readiness by supporting their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. The means for doing so encompass a wide range of provisions, covering issues of program funding, administration, eligibility, accountability, quality, governance, and coordination. Authorization levels for funding would be increased above current funding amounts by both bills, and eligibility would be expanded to allow for serving children up to 130% of the poverty line. Both bills include provisions that would increase competition for Head Start grants, by limiting the period for which a grantee may receive grant funds to five years, before recompetition may be required. Other similarities include increasing the percentage of the appropriation to be reserved for Early Head Start; emphasizing coordination and collaboration with other state and local early childhood programs; increasing staff qualifications; specifying requirements of shared governance principles in statute; and suspending use of the National Reporting System. Although the overall areas addressed by the two reauthorization bills are similar, a side-by-side comparison of provisions, alongside current law, reveals notable differences in detail. View the full report here.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 1429.
May 2, 2007 --The House of Representatives approved the Improving Head Start Act of 2007, by a vote of 365 to 48!  Link to more information.

Education & Labor: US House of Representatives Press Release
March 9, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC-- A bipartisan group of leaders on the House Education and Labor Committee today introduced legislation to reauthorize and improve the Head Start early childhood education program.  View the press release here.

Head Start Parents Win Victory as Committee Approves Bill
March 15, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC -- Office of Indiana Representative, Mark Souder
U.S. Representative Mark Souder, a senior member of the House Education Committee, voted today for committee approval of H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act, which restores the power of Head Start parent policy councils. The legislation will now be reported to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration by the whole chamber.

"Two years ago, the House passed a bill that took away the right of Head Start parents to have a real say in the education of their children," Souder said. "I led the fight against that part of the bill, and while I was unsuccessful in removing it in 2005, so far this year we're winning the battle. The bill we passed today will ensure that Head Start parent policy councils will have real power, and not serve a mere advisory role. This is a victory for Head Start parents. It is parents who should be determining their children's educations, and we should be empowering parents." Under current law, each Head Start program is governed by one board and one policy council. While the board is composed largely of early childhood educators and other community experts, the policy council must have Head Start parents as at least half of its members. Both the board and the policy council jointly determine the direction and operation of the Head Start program. This structure is designed to ensure that important voices of experts in accounting, finance, and early education are balanced with the equally important voices of parents who have children in the program. Unfortunately, in 2005 both Republicans and Democrats voted to fundamentally change the authority of the policy councils by removing their ability to vote on program policy. Instead, the policy councils would have become a mere advisory committee to the board. Souder opposed reducing the policy council solely to an advisory role and by offering an amendment he led the effort on the House floor to change it. While his effort in 2005 was unsuccessful, today the House Education Committee approved legislation (H.R. 1429) that includes a provision stating that Head Start parent policy councils will retain their power. For his efforts two years ago, the National Head Start Association gave Souder their Head Start Heroes Award.