Directors worried bill
could harm Head Start
funding from U.S. gov’t.
to state block grants
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
In order to continue, the government funded Head Start program has to be reauthorized in 2003. The U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a one-vote margin (217-216), proposed legislation that would transfer funding for the Head Start program into a block grant program run by the states.
The School Readiness Act of 2003 would drastically change Head Start by including a pilot program to allow eight states, one of which may be New Jersey, to combine funding for their own early childhood programs with federal Head Start funds.
This change worries people involved with the program that began in 1964 and was designed to help break the cycle of poverty by providing preschool children from low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs.
The program is locally administered by community-based nonprofit organizations and school districts. Grants are awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services, except for the American Indian and migrant programs, which are administered in Washington, D.C.
As part of the modified program, each state would be able to spend the federal money any way it decides is appropriate, without being subject to federal guidelines like the education, medical and dental services now provided.
The Republican-sponsored bill, which was passed at 1 a.m. July 25 with 12 Republicans voting against the legislation, was proposed by the House Education and Workforce Committee.
There are other bills floating around. Senate Democrats and Republicans are also offering separate proposals for revising the Head Start program and neither of them uses the takeover option proposed by the House Education and Workforce Committee.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) proposed a bill to create 200 Centers of Excellence, which would showcase exceptional Head Start programs across the country. The Democratic proposal, sponsored by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), calls for strengthening the academic qualifications of Head Start teachers and also raises the academic standards for children enrolled in the program.
According to Thomas Messick, executive director of the Inter-Community Coordinating Council (ICCC) of Monmouth County, the nonprofit organization that runs the county’s Head Start program, "The Kennedy/Dodd bill would fully fund Head Start, pay salaries that are comparable to public schools and start up federally funded advisory offices in each state. It would also tie dollars to the effectiveness of that advisory panel, so the more effective the state is at collaborating, the more will get funded."
Messick explained that Alexander’s bill does not advocate giving any money to the states.
"His bill calls for Head Start to remain the same, but asked for 200 centers nationwide to be set up as models," the executive director said.
The house bill acknowledges that Head Start "is a great program." But, they add, it "is capable of achieving even greater results. Studies show that while children in Head Start show improvement, they still leave the program with knowledge levels far below national averages for U.S. children."
Messick said he believes the bill to transfer the Head Start programs to the states was written for a number of reasons.
"He’s [President Bush] created a deficit situation and at the same time created a need to fund military and homeland security. Unfortunately, in order to make this change, they had to say that the program doesn’t work," Messick said, adding, "They are considering making less than eight states, maybe five states, pilot states and New Jersey may not be one of them any longer — now that the state has a Democratic governor. All the rest have Republican leaders."
According to the house bill summary, the legislation is designed to close the readiness gap and strengthen Head Start. The School Readiness Act, Head Start reauthorization bill lists a number of things that the act would authorize. They include an emphasis on what works in preparing disadvantaged children for later school success; improve teacher quality in Head Start; provide incentives for states to maintain or expand funding for early childhood education; shield the program from state budget cuts and increase funding.
The second item on the list would "allow faith-based centers to hire individuals of the same religion. Under current law, it is illegal for a Head Start center sponsored by a Catholic organization to hire Catholic instructors and staff," the bill states.
Messick believes the paragraph was just slipped in to appease conservative Republicans.
"Most of our centers are in churches because of the way the program started. Despite the fact that we are in churches, it would not be permissible to ask a person’s religion. Because of our history of nondiscrimination, we would probably not take the offer," he said.
Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) said in a press release prior to voting against the bill that the program should be strengthened, not undercut.
"This bill constitutes an ill-advised and unprecedented attack on the Head Start program that would weaken its social, health and academic programs and lead to the dismantling of Head Start as we know it," the Congressman said.
Holt said the bill could affect more than 1,000 children in his central New Jersey district’s 18 Head Start centers. Seventy-five percent of children in the program — 907 children — live in families with incomes that are below the federal poverty line. Forty-four percent of the total number children (525 children) are black, 516 children are Hispanic and 81 children are white. Fifty-six percent of the families with children in the program are single-parent families.
According to Messick, there are cur-rently more than 900,000 children enrolled in about 2,600 Head Start programs nationwide. In Monmouth County, there are 554 children participating in the program, with 200 to 300 more children on waiting lists.
In Freehold Borough, where there is a Head Start center in the First Presbyterian Church, there is a waiting list of more than 90 children.
"When I came on board three years ago, I believe we had two classrooms. Now we’re up to four [classrooms] with 79 children participating. There’s been a huge growth in the number of Hispanic families that is partially a result of being displaced by 9/11," Messick said, adding, "We are not serving everybody because we can’t get the facilities. We need four more classrooms in Freehold. There is a big need that is not being met."
It is not being met because of funding cutbacks that have already taken place, he said.
"The damage has been done already. Under [President] Clinton, we received $750,000. This year, that was down to $92,000. Not only that, but the Bush administration mandates how to spend it. For example, they mandated that we use a reading program that was developed at the University of Texas," he said.
Messick noted that Freehold is a growing part of the Head Start program and includes a large English as a Second Language program.
"We have done a needs assessment of the county and we estimate between 1,500 and 2,000 children would qualify countywide," he said. "The federal government funds us for 554 children. It’s typical of what’s happening nationwide. We’ve never been fully funded."
But, he said, the School Readiness Act of 2003 is not the answer.
"Historically, when a program becomes block granted, the federal funding tends to dry up. The government sort of loses interest in the program and stops funding it altogether. The real problem with the notion of block granting is that the state would have to take about a third of the funding for administrative costs.
"The purpose of block granting the program is to give the money to the states, but when you do that with social programs the typical end result is the disappearance of the program," he said. "Congress forgets about it. They expect states to pick it up, but they are in no position to do that."
Messick noted another concern that is shared by Karen Colletti, executive director of the Lakewood Head Start programs.
"Eventually the program could become privatized, requiring vouchers. Under the bill passed in the House, the funding for the program would no longer be administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which currently oversees the program, but it would be moved to the Department of Education.
"If you were to privatize the program, the Bush administration could make Head Start more of an education or literacy program. Some folks might think that’s great, but before these kids can learn to read, they have to be able to eat and they have to be able to see," Messick said.
Colletti said for that reason she wants Head Start to remain a federally run program.
"We do want to see Head Start kept under the auspices of the (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services. If they block grant it to the state, the Head Start funding gets pooled with money for other early childhood programs and the money can be diverted into other programs or administrative costs," she said.
Lakewood has two Head Start centers with 219 children overall. There are 179 children in the center on East 8th Street and 40 students in the L.E.A.P. Inc. Yeshiva Tifereth Torah Head Start.
"That center is also open to the entire Lakewood community, but the style is different because they have orthodox Jewish preschoolers who will be going to private Jewish schools in Lakewood. Parents can select either site. At the larger site, they follow the public school calendar and children are mostly Spanish speaking. At the other site, they follow the orthodox Jewish calendar, serve kosher meals and teach the Hebrew alphabet in order to prepare the children for the kindergartens they will be attending," Colletti said.
Although the teachers at the smaller Head Start school are Hebrew speaking, religion is not taught at either site, she said.
"The objective is education geared toward easing the transition to the next school. We are an equal opportunity employer. Religion is not on the application," Colletti said.
The Lakewood centers are not full. At this point, instead of a waiting list, there are 14 openings, she said.
"We also have a program called Early Head Start. It is one of 12 in the state and it is for pregnant women and children from birth to 3 years old. Right now, we go to their homes, but we are trying to build a center. We have received funding to pay the majority of the costs, but we are accepting donations," she said.
To make a tax deductible donation, make checks payable to L.E.A.P. Inc., 30 E. 8th Street, Lakewood 08701.
Messick understands that the program can be improved, especially the collaboration between other programs and schools.
"There needs to be a vehicle for forcing folks to collaborate with programs for preschool children, both advantaged and disadvantaged," he said.
But passing the problem on to the economically strapped states won’t work, he said.
"This bill creates uncertainty about whether the program is going to continue to exist. While the Bush administration is placing mandates on teacher certifications and one-on-one testing for 4- and 5 year-olds, there is no money to do it," Messick said.
Greater Media Newspapers staff writer Sandi Carpello contributed to this story.