Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Two New Articles on HS - May 7, 2003

May 12, 2003

Head Start reform still undefined

Cheryl Wetzstein

THE WASHINGTON TIMES



The Head Start reauthorization bill upcoming in the House will probably
contain key Bush administration reforms, though not exactly what the
White House has proposed, a House Republican said yesterday.
"There's still room for improvement" in the $6.6 billion federal Head Start
program, said Rep. Michael N. Castle, Delaware Republican and chairman
of the House Education and the Workforce subcommittee on education
reform, which is writing the legislation. Ticking off several Bush
administration proposals, Mr. Castle yesterday told a Head Start seminar hosted
by the Brookings Institution that improving Head Start's educational
quality "will be a major focus" of the reform. Gains are needed in Head
Start students' vocabulary, writing and math. Head Start's renowned
social, health and nutrition services to low-income 3- and 4-year-olds
must also be maintained, and Congress should set higher professional
standards for Head Start staff, Mr. Castle said. But he hedged on the Bush
administration's most-debated proposal - allowing governors to redesign
Head Start programs when doing the same to their own
early-childhood-education programs. Under current law, Head Start programs, which
involve nearly 1 million children, operate outside state control. Congress
should be able to create a mechanism that would allow for "collaboration"
with state programs, Mr. Castle said. The question, he said, is, "How
do we do it? Perhaps we do it differently than what the White House is
proposing," but "to not have that coordination is a disaster for kids."
"But what are we coordinating with?" Rep. George Miller, California
Democrat and ranking member of the House education panel, asked at the
Brookings forum. Many states don't have stellar track records organizing
their own preschool programs, he said. "Why are we taking the best
program we have in the nation, with the best outcomes we have, and why are
we deciding we're going to turn it over to the poorest programs?"
Coordination is fine - several states are already collaborating with Head
Start under current law, said Mr. Miller. But given all the
"dysfunctional" childhood programs out there, he said, "Maybe they should be
coordinating with Head Start" instead of the other way around. Bush
administration domestic-policy aide Margaret Spellings said the collaboration
plan is aimed only at governors who want to tackle it. The problem,
she said, is that "there is no requirement for Head Start to coordinate"
with a state's school system or other child care programs. As a result,
when state officials ask Head Start programs to meet statewide measures
or work with a program, Head Start leaders say they only have to meet
federal standards.




Democrat criticizes Bush plan to give states control of Head Start

By Shawn Zeller

szeller@nationaljournal.com



Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the senior Democrat on the House
Education and the Workforce Committee, blasted the Bush administration's plan
to turn responsibility for the Head Start program over to the states,
and said the proposal-if implemented-would be "sort of like handing your
children over to Michael Jackson." Speaking at a forum held Wednesday
by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, Miller said that
the administration plan was a "nonstarter" that would dilute the
quality of Head Start services. He said that most state governments have no
track record of running successful programs for poor preschoolers.
Launched in 1965, Head Start provides healthcare, nutrition and educational
services for low-income preschoolers between the ages of three and
five. It is run by the Administration for Children and Families within the
Health and Human Services Department, but is operated in nearly 70,000
Head Start centers and classrooms across the country. Responding to
Miller, Margaret Spellings, assistant to President Bush for domestic
policy, defended the president's proposal. "Maybe we have a fundamental
disagreement about the role of the states," she said. "State governors
want to serve these children well." Spellings added that Bush has no
desire to dilute the quality of Head Start services. "There is no effort
afoot to destroy, undermine or weaken Head Start," she said. She noted
that Bush's plan would distribute federal funds to states interested in
managing their own Head Start programs, but it would also set stringent
accountability standards. States would be required to provide the same
healthcare, nutrition and educational services that Head Start
currently provides, and would also be required to evaluate the progress of
children going through their programs. The primary benefit of the Bush
plan, she said, would be to allow states to better coordinate services
that they currently provide to preschoolers with the Head Start program.
Currently, she said, there is no requirement for Head Start programs to
coordinate with these state-run programs. Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del.,
who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Education Reform
Subcommittee-the subcommittee where the reauthorization process will
begin-said he doubted that Congress would adopt the administration plan as
drafted, but added that he sees room for compromise. He noted that both
Miller and Spellings agree that Head Start programs can do more to
coordinate with state-run programs, even if the Bush plan is not adopted.
"Head Start is doing a good job, a very good job, but it can do an
excellent job," he said.