AFSCME's Position – Fighting for Head Start Funding
Background
The Head Start Program, which began in 1965 as an eight-week summer program by the Office of Economic Opportunity when Lyndon Johnson was President, has become one of the most successful programs ever created by the federal government. Head Start is successful because it delivers on its promise to provide some of America's poorest children with a real head start that helps them do better in school. Head Start works because it has high standards and because it provides comprehensive services to the children and their families.
Every five years Congress and the President must renew the Head Start law. Over the years, improvements have been made to the program, but more progress can be made. Today, almost one million children are enrolled in Head Start programs, but many children are left behind on waiting lists. They are locked out of Head Start because Congress has never provided enough money to serve all the children who are eligible to attend. Congress has also never provided sufficient funds to assist Head Start workers in getting additional education and training that would entitle them to higher wages.
After decades of bipartisan support for the program and agreement on making improvements within the context of the original program, the Bush Administration proposed to radically alter the program in 2003 by eliminating the grant-center based funding model and converting the program into a state block grant. This proposal in a scaled-back form passed the House but the Senate never acted on the Head Start reauthorization so it died when the 108th Congress ended. Now, two years later, the 109th Congress is about to end and once again, the Head Start program has been ignored.
Summary of legislation
The legislation reauthorizing Head Start introduced early in 2005 did not include the block grant proposal, which was so opposed in the previous Congress. Instead, the focus of the Head Start legislation in the 109th Congress was on raising academic requirements for Head Start teachers and teacher aides and setting forth new and rigorous standards by which all Head Start programs must meet in order to be refunded.
The Senate bill (S. 1107) would require that 50 percent of all Head Start teachers in every center have a bachelor's degree by 2011. By 2008, teacher assistants must have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential and be enrolled in a program towards an AA or BA degree, or enrolled towards a CDA credential to be completed within two years.
By contrast, the comparable House bill (H.R. 2123) would require that 50 percent of all Head Start teachers nationwide have a bachelor's degree by 2011 and that, beginning in 2008, all new Head Start teachers have an associate's degree.
Neither bill provides the funding necessary for Head Start teachers and aides to attend school to improve their skills. There are "quality improvement funds" for hiring additional staff, increasing wages and benefits for those staff providing instruction and for staff training, however, the total amount authorized is insufficient for programs to meet the higher requirements of the bill. It gives much greater discretion to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to force Head Start programs with some deficiencies to re-compete to renew their grants.
The House bill (H.R. 2123) passed the full House in September 2005. The Senate Committee with oversight over the Head Start program, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, approved the Senate bill (S. 1107) in May 2005. However, that is where the trail goes cold. The Senate leadership has ignored the Head Start reauthorization and now 16 months later, as Congress is about to adjourn for the 2006 elections, the Head Start program has still not been reauthorized. Action on Head Start now awaits the 110th Congress that will be elected in November 2006 and take office in January 2007.
In addition to failing to reauthorize the Head Start program, which continues to operate under its existing legislation and regulations, the 109th Congress has failed to approve the funds for Head Start to operate in the next fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2006. That means that Head Start will once again be funded on a month-to-month basis based on the dollar amounts that the programs received in the last fiscal year, until at least after the November 2006 elections. And, to make matters worse, the funding bill that contains the Head Start program is not slated to add any additional money. Head Start is level funded at $6.8 billion. Since FY 2005, Head Start has been cut by six percent.
AFSCME's position
The education and training requirements for Head Start should not be increased unless sufficient funding is provided to meet the new higher standards. Forcing programs to meet higher standards without giving them the money to do so will threaten the continued viability of many programs.
What you can do
When the new Congress convenes, contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to put Head Start on the fast track and to support a substantial increase in Head Start funds so that the program can serve more eligible children who grow older languishing on Head Start’s long waiting lists and to provide the funds necessary for Head Start teachers and teacher aides to attend school in order to meet new and higher educational requirements.
Department of Legislation
October 2006
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