HEAD
START PROGRAMS GO TO COURT TO SEEK REWRITE OF "POLITICAL,
UNBALANCED" HHS SURVEY ON SALARIES
NHSA Backs Collection of Salary Data, But
Wants It Done Legally and Fairly; HHS Survey is "Brief
for Prosecution" From Proponents of Dismantling
Head Start.
WASHINGTON,
D.C.///January 15, 2004///The National Head Start Association (NHSA) filed
a lawsuit late Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia asking for a temporary restraining order to halt
a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) survey of
Head Start salaries until the data collection can be carried
out without violating the law and in a manner that will create
a "full and balanced" picture of Head Start program
salaries, including grossly underpaid teachers.
NHSA President Sarah Greene said: "I want to be crystal
clear that we completely support the collection of Head Start
salary information and that we have always aggressively championed
the notion of defunding the small number of Head Start programs
with fiscal management problems. We have absolutely nothing
to hide, but that does not mean we will allow ourselves to
be railroaded by HHS. They tried to take away our First Amendment
rights last year and now they are trying to take away the
good reputations of hardworking Head Start program directors.
We had no choice but to go to court to stop the first attack
by HHS and we now are forced reluctantly to do so again.
We will not simply roll over for an unbalanced and blatantly
political survey that is designed to serve as a 'brief for
the prosecution' for those who want to dismantle Head Start."
Greene added: "We want to make sure that the resulting
data creates a complete and balanced picture of Head Start
salaries, including the portion of executive director and
director pay that actually comes out of Head Start dollars
(versus other sources) and the national scandal of underpaid
Head Start teachers and other staff members. It is no secret
in Washington that you only get out of a survey what you
ask; this HHS survey only poses questions that are designed
to create a misleading picture of what Head Start directors
get paid." Greene said: "We want to see a comprehensive survey
that is carried out in accordance with the law and truly
for the purposes of revealing the facts - not one that breaks
HHS's own rules and is intended to create a political 'club'
that can be used to bludgeon Head Start programs. In fact,
we went to HHS to outline our ideas and concerns and were
turned down. We see this as the 2004 version of HHS's attack
last year on Head Start program First Amendment rights. What
we see once again is that they will do or say anything, without
regard to the law, in order to disparage and silence Head
Start advocates." The NHSA lawsuit highlights numerous problems with the HHS
survey, including:
-
It will provide no context needed for evaluating individual
salaries, such as years of service, size of programs (including
number of children served, employees, sites, etc.) and
pay comparability data for individual salaries, as is
required
on a regular basis by HHS. Greene noted: "The people
who wrote this survey don't want a complete picture that
will put budget numbers into the proper context. They just
want numbers they can exploit. They don't want you to know
if you are looking at a program of 300 kids in a single
church basement or 3,500 children at a dozen sites across
a major
metropolitan area. This data will be meaningless without
the kind of additional information that HHS already requires
elsewhere and that we are urging be included in the scope
of a fuller and fair survey document."
- It deliberately
muddles the distinction between Head Start "executive
directors" and Head Start program "directors." Greene
explained: "Executive directors that oversee Head
Start programs are often part of much bigger operations,
which
may also provide services under state and federal programs
targeting low-income homemakers, foster grandparents, child
care services, weatherization, WIC and so. Those salary
figures will in many cases be meaningless in the narrow
Head Start
context, since much or even most of the salaries may not
come out of Head Start dollars. By contrast, HHS already
has the Head Start director salary data, which it reviews
and approves annually, and which shows that 99 percent
of Head Start directors are paid under $100,000 and, further,
that the average salary is $53,114." (See below.)
- It is geared to produce a meaningless "top 25" list
that will not present a fair picture of Head Start program
salaries. With more than 2,500 Head Start programs in existence,
the "top 25" list that will be produced by HHS
from the data will reflect as few as 1 percent of all programs.
Greene noted: "This is exactly what it appears to
be: a twisting of the data to come up with some kind of
sexy
results that may grab headlines, but will not accurately
characterize the pay picture for Head Start programs. No
federal agency survey that reflects only 1 percent of its
potential universe can be regarded as any other than a
political slash-and-burn attack."
The NHSA lawsuit also notes that the survey would require
the wasteful diversion of tens of thousands of Head Start
program worker hours for a purely political exercise
that is not provided for under current Head Start appropriations.
The lawsuit also raises Fifth Amendment concerns in that
the fatally flawed survey data will be used to unfairly
malign the reputations of individual Head Start program
directors.
NHSA'S 2003 CAMPAIGN TO STOP HHS ABUSES
Greene noted that the survey is not
the first time that NHSA has been forced to go to court to
stop abusive tactics
on
the part of HHS. On May 28, 2003, NHSA revealed an unprecedented
attempt by the Bush Administration to stifle the free
speech rights of Head Start staff and parents with children
in
the program. On May 8, 2003, Windy Hill, associate commissioner,
Head Start Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services,
sent a letter to local Head Start programs in the U.S.
that asserted a new and broad interpretation of the Head
Start
Act to threaten local Head Start programs with legal
action if they spoke out in any way against White House
and House
GOP proposals to dismantle the program serving one million
at-risk American children.
On May 27th, NHSA formally objected to the letter and
indicated that, if it was not overturned, a lawsuit
would be filed
to challenge it. (To read the NHSA statement on the
Bush Administration's attack on the First Amendment rights
of Head Start teachers and parent/volunteers, go to
http://www.saveheadstart.org/052003release.html.
That page includes the text of the original Windy Hill
letter and the NHSA letter submitted in response to
Hill.) In the
absence of a Bush Administration response, NHSA took
HHS
to court on June 11, 2003, to stop the campaign of
intimidation.
On July 3, 2003, NHSA announced that it had prevailed
in its effort to force the Bush Administration to
end its
attempt at chilling the First Amendment free-speech
rights of 180,000
Head Start staff and more than 870,000 parent volunteers.
NHSA President Sarah Greene announced that the Bush
Administration had capitulated in the lawsuit by
withdrawing the May
8th HHS letter to Head Start programs across the
U.S. On July
2, 2003, the Bush Administration indicated that it
would withdraw the letter and replace it with one
making it
clear that there is no basis for such a threat to
be hanging
over the heads of Head Start teachers and parent/volunteers.
This
step came after a federal court judge instructed
HHS to either write a letter that would address NHSA's
objections or face
an unfavorable bench ruling. BACKGROUND: THE REAL HEAD START PAY SCANDAL
The National Head Start Association warned on November
25, 2003, that both pending U.S. House and Senate bills for
Head
Start reauthorization do nothing to alleviate the "real
Head Start pay scandal" of low teacher salaries under
which the average Head Start teacher was paid only $21,000
in the 2000-2001 program year, compared to public school
teachers earning about twice that at $43,000. Even worse,
both bills create an "unfunded B.A. mandate" by
requiring higher degrees but then failing to provide funding
for scholarships and more competitive salaries for teachers.
Under the Senate bill, Head Start programs actually would
be threatened with defunding if Head Start teachers fail
to get the higher degrees.
NHSA highlighted that some on Capitol Hill have attempted
to "manufacture a smoke-and-mirrors campaign" to
suggest that there are pay and other management problems
at Head Start programs around the United States. In fact,
proponents of the theory that there are widespread problems
in Head Start programs have to date publicly identified only
about half a dozen cases of pay issues and management concerns
out of the more than 2,500 local Head Start programs.
In making available detailed salary information on 2,501
Head Start programs nationwide at http://www.saveheadstart.org/understand.html,
NHSA highlighted the following data:
- Head Start program directors are underpaid as
a group. The average Head Start program director salary
is $53,114, which
is well under the comparable local position of elementary
school principal. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
in 2003 that the average pay of elementary school principals
is $69,000.
- 99 percent of Head Start program directors
are paid under $100,000. None of the 2,501 Head Start program
directors
is paid in excess of the U.S. Senate bill cap of $171,000.
In fact, 99 percent of local Head Start program directors
are paid well under $100,000.
- Head
Start mismanagement concerns are down, not up. While fewer
than six cases of alleged Head Start program mismanagement
in 2003 have been highlighted publicly so far, the HHS "Report
on Head Start Monitoring for Fiscal Year 2000" identified
through actual audits 50 cases of "fiscal management" deficiencies.
A comparable level of "fiscal management" deficiencies
were raised for fiscal year 1999. The numbers for both
of these years - which were not considered to be extraordinary
or a cause for concern - dwarf the potential problem cases
identified so far for 2003.
- Every penny of every Head Start
salary and budget is signed off by HHS. The federal government
reviews every Head Start
salary and budget program on an annual basis and must approve
it. Further, local Head Start programs are subject to extensive
triennial audits that review every aspect of the program's
operations. If there are "problem" salaries or
programs out there, they already have been cleared by HHS.
ABOUT NHSA
The National Head Start Association is a private not-for-profit
membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting
the needs of Head Start children and their families. It
represents more than 900,000 children, 190,000 staff and
2,500 Head
Start programs in the United States. The Association provides
support for the entire Head Start community by advocating
for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children
and their families; by providing extensive training and
professional development to Head Start staff; and by developing
and disseminating
research, information and resources that enrich Head Start
program delivery.
CONTACT: Ailis Aaron, (703) 276-3265 or aaaron@hastingsgroup.com
EDITOR'S NOTE: The full text of the NHSA lawsuit of January
14, 2004, (as well as the June 11, 2003, First Amendment lawsuit)
is available online at http://www.saveheadstart.org/understand.html The same Web page features NHSA's November 25, 2003, materials
explaining the "real Head Start pay scandal" of low
teacher salaries. |
