KENNEDY ON HEAD START: ENSURING DOLLARS BENEFIT THE CHILDREN

[paineinthearse]

http://kennedy.senate.gov/index_high.html

April 5, 2005



STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY ON HEAD START: ENSURING DOLLARS BENEFIT THE CHILDREN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Laura Capps / Melissa Wagoner (202) 224- 2633

I commend Chairman Enzi and Senator Alexander for scheduling today's hearing on Head Start, which gives us an opportunity to consider effective ways to improve and strengthen all aspects of this vital program.

One thing is clear -- Head Start is a lifeline for the neediest families and children across the nation. For 40 years, it has given disadvantaged children the assistance they need to arrive at school ready to learn. Its balanced curriculum to help them develop the intellectual skills they'll need to meet high academic standards later in school. Equally important, it helps them learn to get along with their fellow students, and delivers the social and emotional building blocks they'll need to keep up once they reach kindergarten.

Head Start also makes it possible for these children to see doctors and dentists, and be immunized against childhood diseases. It teaches children to eat healthy meals. Every Head Start center is grounded in the community in which it operates and supports. Parents are welcomed into their children's classrooms and urged to participate actively in the local programs.

These services are backed by impressive research. Children who participate in the program make gains in vocabulary, and develop early reading and math skills. By the end of their kindergarten year, Head Start children are typically performing at or above national averages. That's a remarkable achievement, given the devastating effects of poverty on children.

Our challenge in reauthorizing Head Start this year is to build on the program's many strengths, identify the problems it faces, and enable administrators, teachers, parents, and families to deal with them. We welcome the opportunity today to hear more about Head Start's oversight, and discuss ideas to improve its management.

Our goal is to ensure that Head Start's services reach as many children and families as possible. The need for Head Start is still miles from being met. Today it serves fewer than 6 out of every 10 eligible children and only 3 out of every hundred infants and toddlers through its sister program, Early Head Start.

President Bush's budget proposes to increase funds for Head Start by only $45 million, and would set-aside those funds for 9 states willing to turn Head Start into a block grant. Block grants are the wrong direction for Head Start. They don't guarantee medical check-ups, healthy meals, dental visits, or medical screenings for children. They don't guarantee support to families and parents. Lower quality and lower standards are not the way to strengthen Head Start. We need to invest more -- not less -- in the families and children the program serves.

We can do more to see that every dollar invested in Head Start delivers the highest quality of services in the most effective manner. New resources for Head Start should be accompanied by effective steps to genuinely improve the program.

We welcome the testimony today from the GAO and other witnesses on the oversight and management of Head Start, especially on ways to measure risks and potential problems more accurately and adopt more effective strategies to meet them. We know what works in Head Start and it's time to put these practices into place.

For years, Head Start has had one of the most comprehensive monitoring systems in early childhood education. Over the years, it has been revised and improved, based on Head Start's actual services. Annual auditing, reporting, and financial accounting are critical for the quality of the programs and the most effective level of services.

It's clear that the number of Head Start programs with serious problems is small -- 15 percent or fewer of all programs, by the Department's own calculation. But clearly, when any problem is identified in a program -- no matter what the issue -- it must receive appropriate attention and follow-up from those responsible at the federal level.

Thanks to the bipartisan cooperation of Committee members in the last Congress, we made good progress in working together on these improvements. We did more to enhance the skills and qualifications of Head Start teachers, upgraded the educational components of the program, and increased coordination at the state level with other programs.

I look forward to continuing our bipartisan work this year. We are fortunate to begin that work today by hearing from witnesses who will share their expertise and insights from the federal and local levels. Thank you all for joining us this morning.

[Ilsa]

1. I love Head Start. Excellent Program!

I have also been told that "administrators" -- whatever level they are, really rake in the bucks. I've heard that waaaay too much is wasted on excessive salaries. But i have nothing to back up what I was told by someone who used to deal with them.