Legislative Update Week of July 24
Date Posted: 07/24/2009
NHSA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE AND CALL TO ACTION
Week of July 24, 2009
Dear Friends:
Please read this email and share it with others in your network. It contains an NHSA Update, a Legislative and Administrative Update, and a Call to Action.
NHSA UPDATE
During the past two weeks, much of NHSA's advocacy efforts have centered around FY 2010 Appropriations legislation and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, H.R. 3221, both of which are discussed below. NHSA closely monitored the House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY 2010 appropriations legislation and participated in an advance briefing on H.R. 3221 hosted by the Department of Education with representatives from the White House and Capitol Hill. Subsequently, Yasmina Vinci attended a small meeting and press conference with Secretaries Arne Duncan and Kathleen Sebelius. To provide timely information to the NHSA membership, NHSA co-sponsored with other national organizations a conference call about H.R. 3221. NHSA also attended a summit on H1N1 flu, hosted by the White House, Homeland Security and HHS.
Get Ready for the Fall Leadership Institute!
Mark your calendars and save the date: Leadership Institute on September 21-24; NHSA Board Meeting on September 24-25. We look forward to having Head Start leaders from the field--including program directors, parents, senior management, board members, state Head Start association leaders, Policy Council members, and others join us for what should prove to be a full program. We'll discuss the latest legislative and regulatory action, make educational visits to Members of Congress, hear from key individuals on Capitol Hill and in the Obama administration, and more. Click here to register: http://www.nhsa.org/?e=events.detail&event_id=38.
Send Us Your Links
If you or your program receives a write-up or interview in local media outlets about your proposed or actual uses of ARRA funding, please let us know. Or, if you've had a great news story about something special your program is doing, let us know that too. Send your links to Gregg Porter at NHSA at gporter@nhsa.org. We'd like to post them to our website and help spread the word!
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Early Learning Challenge Grant Legislation
One of President Obama's educational priorities was to establish an Early Learning Challenge Grant program to provide funds to states to increase the quality of early learning efforts. Chairman Miller (D-CA) of the House Committee on Education and Labor just introduced a bill on July 15, 2009, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221) that includes a section (Title IV) to authorize an Early Learning Challenge Fund ("ELCF"). Initially, as introduced, the ELCF would have provided $10 billion over 10 years in the form of competitive grants to states to build a comprehensive, high quality early learning system for children ages birth to five. The funds for it will be offset by savings in other parts of the larger bill. However, the House Education and Labor Committee marked up and passed the bill out of Committee on Tuesday, July 21, 2009. The mark-up made significant changes such as tying the maintenance of effort provision to FY 2006, not FY 2009, as well as including a total of $8 billion over 8 years, instead of $10 billion over 10 years.
NHSA's summary of the bill (drafted prior to the Committee mark-up and based on the initial language as introduced) can be found at http://www.nhsa.org/files/static_page_files/8A70A7D0-1D09-3519-AD4788FAD642E812/ELCF%20Summary.pdf and the full bill text can be found at http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/07/student-aid-and-fiscal-respons.shtml.
As you know, for H.R. 3221 to become law, companion legislation will have to be introduced in the Senate, both bills will have to be passed by their respective houses of Congress, then differences between the two bills would have to be reconciled between House and Senate and passed by both houses, and then the President would then sign the reconciled Conference bill into law.
FY 2010 Appropriations
The House Appropriations Committee marked up and passed the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Education ("Labor-H") bill at the end of last week. Not surprisingly, after receiving significant increases this year through the supplemental American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ($2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start) and with President Obama's request for just $122 million more than Head Start received last year in our regular annual appropriation, the House Appropriations Committee agreed on President Obama's request for Head Start. It would provide $7.2 billion (the same as the Obama Administration requested and $122 million above FY 2009) to "sustain high-quality, comprehensive early childhood services, including educational, health, nutritional, and social services, to approximately 978,000 low-income children before they enter school, nearly 70,000 over the fiscal year 2008 level." The full House still needs to vote on the Labor-H bill.
As you know, NHSA and numerous partners requested an increase of 1 billion dollars for FY 2010, on top of our current annual appropriation. You can still have an impact on the Senate's final number for Head Start. The Senate is intending to finish work on all of the Appropriations bills by October 1, 2009, the beginning of FY 2010. See below in the Call to Action for what you can do.
ADMINISTRATION NEWS
New IM from the Office of Head Start
This week, the Office of Head Start issued a new Information Memorandum, ACF-IM-HS-09-04, Services to Pregnant Women Participating in Early Head Start. It can be found at http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/Program%20Design%20and%20Management/Head%20Start%20Requirements/IMs/2009/resour_ime_004_072209.html.
OMB Issues New Guidance for Reporting Recovery Act Funds
At the end of June, the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") issued new guidance about the reporting requirements that attach to funds made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA"), including ARRA funds for Head Start and Early Head Start. To review the guidance, please go to: http://www.recovery.gov/?q=node/579.
CALL TO ACTION
This week's call to action differs for the House and Senate. We could use your help in both.
For the House:
Please contact your Representatives and let them know that you support the Early Learning Challenge Fund provisions of H.R. 3321, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act and ask that they do the same.
To contact your Representatives, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or if you'd like to email them, go to: www.house.gov and click on your Member's website. On each website, there is a contact or feedback form which will allow you to email him/her directly.
For the Senate:
With pending action on Appropriations, we need your help. Please contact Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and remind them that the Head Start community and the broader early childhood community have asked for an additional $1 billion for FY 2010, beyond our regular annual appropriation and the ARRA funding.
You can find members of the Senate Appropriations Committee listed here: http://appropriations.senate.gov/members.cfm and more specifically, members of the Subcommittee with jurisdiction over Head Start here: http://appropriations.senate.gov/labor.cfm.
Tell them:
- Thank you for your strong and continued support of Head Start and Early Head Start (collectively "Head Start"), the nation's premier early childhood education and care programs providing comprehensive school readiness, education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children ages birth to five and their families.
- To make a down payment on the President's "Zero to Five" Plan and build on the recent investments in early childhood education and care in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, we hope that you will provide $8,112,786,000 for activities under the Head Start Act for FY 2010 Appropriations.
- This amount will foster sustainable growth in Head Start, Early Head Start, Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, and American Indian/Alaska Native Head Start programs across the country and allow Head Start programs' base funding to keep up with the pace of inflation since 2002.
To contact your Senators call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or if you'd like to email them, go to: www.senate.gov and click on your Senator's website. On each website, there is a contact or feedback form which will allow you to email him/her directly. Alternatively, you can go to www.supportheadstart.org and tailor your email message to your Members of Congress.
DOLLAR PER CHILD
Thanks to all of you who donated to the Dollar per Child Campaign this year. All the work that NHSA did on the ARRA and is doing on other current legislative efforts is paid for by Dollar Per Child funds. That's why we need you to continue to support the Dollar Per Child Campaign. Without a robust source of funds, NHSA can't lead the way in our advocacy efforts that benefit all Head Start programs. It is through these dollars that we can advocate for you and with you on your behalf. Don't wait. Please send your contributions, whatever amount you can afford, whether it is $1 per child, $5 per child, or $10 per child. You can even easily donate online on our new, improved website at: https://www.nhsa.org/get_involved/donate.
Dollar Per Child funds will ensure that NHSA can continue to lead the way in all of the future advocacy efforts coming up-from regulatory issues with the Office of Head Start, to additional fiscal year appropriations, to the next Head Start Act reauthorization, which is not far off.
Please know that NHSA continues to work for you and with you on your behalf on matters of importance to the Head Start community.
This Legislative E-Update has been sent to Head Start Directors, the NHSA Board, Head Start State and Regional Association Presidents, Executive Directors, and Parents. Please share it with others in your network.