2007 Funding (February 22, 2007)

Head Start to Receive $103 million increase for 2007; President Proposes Cuts to Head Start for 2008; Senate Bill Clears Committee; House to Hold Hearing on Head Start; Head Start Bill Set for March 7 Vote in House Committee

We are pleased to report that Head Start will receive an increase of $103 million for 2007. This means programs will get a little bit of help this year. The Office of Head Start should be issuing guidance shortly on when programs will receive their extra funding and how the funds can be used. We thank everyone who made phone calls and got involved in this important campaign!

President’s Budget for 2008
No surprises this year. The president, once again, proposes to slash services for low-income children and families to fund his tax cuts for the wealthiest citizens. This year he is proposing to cut Head Start funding by $100 million, eliminate funding for Community Action Agencies, cut the Food Stamp program, and make further cuts to education, housing, and health care programs.

We have estimated that if programs do not make any cuts to quality programming, about 30,000 slots may have to be cut next year. To read the latest information about the budget and our press materials, go to www.saveheadstart.org

We are asking members of Congress to support at least a $750 million increase for fiscal year 2008. We believe that this amount is required to restore the cuts programs have had to make to services and staff since 2002.

Senate Bill Clears the Committee
On Wednesday, February 14, the Senate Health, Labor, and Pensions Committee marked up their bill. The bill cleared the committee unanimously and is expected to be on the Senate floor for a full vote in April. Here are the most important provisions in the bill:

The bill re-competes the grants of only poorly performing programs. Programs that receive a deficiency and do not correct that deficiency will have to open up their grant for competition from other potential providers. The bill also defines “deficiency” as a “systemic and substantial material failure” to meet the Program Performance Standards. NHSA focused considerable energy with committee staff to improve this language in the bill so that only the most poorly performing programs would see their grants opened up.
The bill increases the income eligibility guidelines from the current 100% of the poverty level to 130% of the poverty level. However, it requires Head Start programs to serve the poorest children and families first.
The bill suspends and terminates the National Reporting System. It requires the National Academy of Sciences to develop a new and more appropriate assessment tool for children. The National Academy of Sciences is also tasked with the development of educational outcomes for Head Start children to be used in locally-based assessments.
Programs will need to be at least 95% enrolled. If they are not, they will receive T/TA, and if they do not improve their enrollment then they will see funding recaptured.
The bill allows programs to convert Head Start slots downward to serve pregnant women and infants. The bill also allows programs to convert part-day slots to full-day slots. Both of these changes require programs to first conduct a community needs assessment and apply to the Secretary to utilize these two options.

The bill sets several goals for Head Start teachers:

50% of Head Start teachers in each state should have a B.A. degree by 2013
100% of Head Start teachers should have an A.A. degree by 2012.
All educational coordinators will need to have a B.A. by 2010.
Teaching assistants will have to have a CDA and be working towards their A.A. degree.
All staff must have a professional development plan in place.
The bill increases the set-aside for Migrant (5%) and Indian (4%) programs. The Early Head Start set-aside is also increased to 20% by 2012.
The bill provides not less than 2 percent of funding for training and technical assistance and requires that at least 50% of training money will go directly to local programs. The bill also increases the quality set-aside so that in 2008 it is raised to 30% and for remainder of the 5-year reauthorization, it moves to 40%.
The bill requires each state to set up a “state advisory council.” Each council must be made of specific individuals and key stakeholders in each state. Existing state early care councils are ok as long as they have spots for all of the key stakeholders outlined in the bill. $100 million is set aside for grants to help states coordinate early care activities such as professional development. The bill expands the role of the collaboration director.
The bill sets up a new Centers of Excellence grant program. Two hundred programs will be chosen to receive additional dollars if they are an excellent program and are nominated by their governor for consideration.
The bill weakens the role of the policy council. Rather than shared governance, the bill states that the governing body “must facilitate meaningful consultation and collaboration with the policy council.” NHSA worked hard to strengthen the language in the bill and improved the language by requiring the policy council to jointly approve the impasse policy with the governing body. However, the language at best can be seen as very vague and at worst as a sort of heightened advisory role for the policy council. Furthermore, the delegate policy councils will lose their authority and only serve an advisory role.
There are further restrictions on voter registration activities as well as additional restrictions on using training and technical assistance dollars to travel to national conferences.
The bill prohibits Head Start programs from using their grant dollars to pay for legal fees if they decide to challenge an adverse decision by HHS.
The bill makes it easier for for-profit providers to compete for Head Start grants.
The bill requires programs to do more outreach to homeless families and makes it easier for programs to enroll these families.
The bill establishes a series of unfunded mandates from substance abuse counseling to a variety of other areas.

NHSA will put together a more comprehensive summary of the bill shortly. If you have a question or comment about the bill, please contact Joel Ryan at jryan@nhsa.org or at 425-739-7349.

NHSA will work to restore the full authority of the policy council in the Senate bill before a full vote takes place in April. We also will work on several other issues such as voter registration, appeal rights, and conference travel.

House to Hold Head Start Hearing
The House Early Education Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the success of Head Start on Wednesday, February 28. The hearing will take place in Washington, D.C., at 10:30 a.m. in Rayburn 2175. Please stay tuned for more information about this hearing.

House Bill Coming to You On March 7; Calls Needed Now!

The House Education and Labor Committee will mark up a bill on March 7. Staff on the Hill are currently working on the language for the House legislation. This means that you need to contact your member of Congress right now! On the House side, we need Head Start community members to focus on two critical issues:

1) Maintaining the full authority of the policy council; and

2) Increasing the income eligibility guidelines to 130% of the poverty level. These are the two areas we need the most help on.

To contact your member of Congress dial 202-224-3121. Remember when you are transferred to the correct office, ask to speak with the legislative assistant who handles Head Start and talk to them about the two key issues.

We would also like all State and Regional Head Start Associations to send a clear statement of support for the policy council to their member of Congress. We need everyone to stay unified on this key issue. We are very close to making real progress and we need everyone’s help: parents, staff, directors, and state and regional associations.

Already, the Illinois Head Start Association, New Jersey Head Start Association, North Carolina Head Start Association, Massachusetts Head Start Association, Vermont Head Start Association, and several others have sent their members of Congress a clear written statement of support on the policy council.

New GAD Committee Chair
Dennis DeMers, a friend of Head Start from Minnesota has recently been appointed the NHSA board chair of the Government Affairs Committee. We want to congratulate our new NHSA government affairs chair for taking on this important role.

Dollar per Child
We will conduct another Dollar per Child round-up at the Annual Training Conference in San Antonio. The conference takes place in the middle of April. Dollar per Child funds go directly to support all of our advocacy work on the Hill. They go for our successful advocacy campaigns to obtain increases in Head Start funding and for our successful and tough fought work on Head Start reauthorization. To talk to someone in our office about the campaign, or to find out how to contribute, please contact Catherine Polanski at 703-299-7515. Catherine will be happy to assist you!

*Please circulate this update to all Head Start programs, staff, and parents.