National Head Start Association

NHSA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE AND CALL TO ACTION

 

 

Week of June 26, 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

 

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.  Visit our Web site for more information and to register!

 

NHSA Recent Actions

 

NHSA has been continuing to work in DC with other early childhood advocates. Most recently, we helped to help explain to the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") the importance of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act ("ARRA") funds for the Head Start and child care community and has begun a dialog about needing to sustain them over time. In addition, Yasmina Vinci was in Belfast, Ireland at the World Forum on Early Care and Education where she coordinated three panels:   Better Childhoods for Vulnerable Young Children: Promising Practices at the Grassroots Level, Increasing Local Capacity to Support Communities and Caregivers of Young Children Affected by HIV/AIDS, and The Charismatic Organization. 

 

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

 

July Fourth Recess

 

The House of Representatives and the Senate will be having District Work Periods ("Recess") from June 29, 2009 through the July 4 weekend. Consider making plans to invite them to see what your Center does while they are at home in their districts. 

 

Ranking Member of House Education and Labor Committee Changes

 

Last week, House Republican leaders selected Rep. John Kline (R-MN) to be the ranking member of the House Education and Labor Committee. Kline will be taking over for Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) who was selected to be the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Kline is in his fourth term in Congress and represents the suburbs and rural counties south of Minnesota's Twin Cities (the Second District). In addition to the Education and Labor Committee, Kline sits on Armed Services, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Ethics Committee. You can read more about Rep. Kline on his website at http://kline.house.gov/. 

 

FY 2010 Appropriations

 

As you know, NHSA and numerous partners have requested an increase of 1 billion dollars for FY 2010, on top of our current annual appropriation. Congressman Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, wants to complete action on all FY 2010 Appropriations Bills (including the "Labor-H" Bill that will include Head Start funding) before August recess. In a tentative schedule published by the Appropriations Committee, the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies plans to mark up the Labor-H Bill on July 8, with a full Committee mark-up scheduled for July 14. A press release schedule from the Committee notes that the Labor-H bill will be slated for the House floor on July 22-24. The Senate expects a longer process and is intending to finish work on all of the Appropriations bills by October 1, 2009, the beginning of FY 2010. 

 

Health Care Reform

 

In the last Legislative Update, we mentioned that Washington is abuzz with talk on reforming our health care system. Recently, the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee released a discussion draft of what they would like to see accomplished called the "Affordable Health Choices Act," a 615-page bill available from a link on the HELP Committee website at: http://help.senate.gov/. That discussion draft is undergoing mark up and the Committee is still awaiting draft language for certain key provisions. In addition, the Senate Finance Committee will publish its version of a health reform bill but will wait until July. The Finance Committee is re-working its first draft and debating ways to reduce a 1.6 trillion dollar price tag over 10 years. 

 

On Friday of last week, the House came out with its draft version of a health reform bill. Currently called the "Tri-Committee" bill, leadership from the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor together put forth an 852-page discussion draft available at http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/06/health-care-reform-house-dems.shtml. Summaries of that bill's contents are also available at the previous link, including a comprehensive one that outlines the whole bill. More specific items such as, "What's in the Health Care Reform Bill for You?" and "Making Coverage Affordable" are also available at that link.

 

The Kaiser Family Foundation has published a comprehensive summary of all three bills available at: http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm. In addition, most newspapers across the country are carrying coverage of the health care reform debate on Capitol Hill. Keep an eye out-you should be hearing a lot about this in the coming weeks into the Fall. We expect a very heated debate over the next few months. Stay tuned!

 

Additional Bills

 

A recently introduced bill that NHSA will be watching is HR 2274, the Priorities in Education Spending Act, introduced by Rep. McKeon. The bill's purpose is "to repeal ineffective or unnecessary education programs in order to restore the focus on Federal programs on quality preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education programs for disadvantaged students and students with disabilities." Among many other educational program repeals, the bill includes a provision to repeal Section 657B of the Head Start Act which authorizes bonus grants for up to 200 exemplary Head Start agencies as Centers of Excellence in Early Childhood. 

 

For a summary of some of the key bills that could have an effect on Head Start programs, please see http://www.wsaheadstarteceap.com/. Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP put this summary together recently and posted it on June 22, 2009. From it, you will see many of the bills that we've been highlighting recently in these Legislative Updates all in one place. For further information on any of the listed bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and type in the bill number (for example, HR 2274 or S 1002). 

 

In the coming weeks, we will provide you with further details on these bills and many others that could have an effect on Head Start and early childhood programs. Stay tuned!

 

ADMINISTRATION NEWS

 

Secretary Sebelius made a few recent ACF appointments of interest to the Head Start community:

 

• David A. Hansell, currently the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, has been named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families.  Mr. Hansell will be joining ACF on June 29.

 

• Joan Lombardi, a national and international expert on early childhood, has been appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development in the Administration for Children and Families.  Dr. Lombardi will oversee the Head Start and child care programs and will serve as an inter-departmental liaison to the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Lombardi began on June 22.

 

• Shannon Rudisill has been appointed to be Associate Commissioner of the Child Care Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families. Ms. Rudisill began her work in the Child Care Bureau on June 22.

 

We have not yet heard of a date for Carmen Nazario's confirmation hearing in the Senate. Recall that Nazario was nominated by President Obama to be the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services back in May. Also, we still have no word on when the new Director of the Office of Head Start will be announced. We hope to hear more on this subject soon...

 

Early Head Start Expansion Deadline Coming Up Soon

 

Just a quick reminder that if you plan on applying for the ARRA-funded Early Head Start Expansion, applications are due very soon on July 9, 2009. For more information, please see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/HHS-2009-ACF-OHS-SA-0087.html.

 

CALL TO ACTION

 

With pending action on Appropriations, we need your help.  Please contact Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees 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. Don't delay! They need to hear from you.

 

You can find members of the House Appropriations Committee listed here: http://appropriations.house.gov/members111th.shtml and more specifically, members of the Subcommittee with jurisdiction over Head Start here: http://appropriations.house.gov/Subcommittees/sub_lhhse.shtml.

 

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 and Representatives, 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 or www.house.gov and click on your Representative'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.