THE DISMANTLING OF HEAD START IS ALREADY UNDERWAY
Three Years of "Neglect and Disdain" Take a Severe Toll on Program;
Survey Finds Two-Thirds of Programs Expect Service, Staff Cuts in '05.
WASHINGTON, D.C.///October 27, 2004/// Despite being one of the most successful programs in the federal government, Head Start, which gets America's poorest children ready to learn in kindergarten and beyond, is in a bad way today after three years of "neglect and disdain," according to the National Head Start Association (NHSA). Among the problems highlighted in new data from NHSA: almost 9,000 slots for poor children have been trimmed from the program, the percentage of eligible children served by Head Start and Early Head Start programs has eroded to 20 percent, and half of local Head Start grantees have been forced to cut services and/or staffing during the past two years.
The Association warned that even more "de facto dismantling" of Head Start is in the works, with about two thirds of programs expecting to cut services (such as hours of operations, the length of the school calendar year and programs for disabled children) and/or staff (including degreed teachers) during fiscal year 2005.
National Head Start Association President and CEO Sarah Greene said: "What we are seeing is that you don't have to dismantle Head Start through block granting to the states to effectively undermine this fine program serving America's most at-risk children. Inadequate funding is slowly forcing programs to alter and, in some cases, kill services and teacher positions that otherwise would make a real difference in the lives of Head Start children. Ironically, the funds are drying up at the very point where demands are being placed on Head Start programs to hire more teachers with degrees. It may turn out that the most effective way to 'prove' the case for dismantling Head Start is by making it quite literally impossible for local grantees to do their job."
NHSA Board Chairman Ron Herndon, who also is director of the Albina Head Start program ( Portland, OR), said: "We are putting Head Start programs in a 10-foot hole and then handing them a five-foot ladder to use to climb out of that hole. The result is a largely hidden legacy of neglect and disdain that is clearly part of a de facto effort to dismantle Head Start. An alarming number of programs are reporting that they cannot afford to train their staff and provide safe transportation. We cannot stand by and watch as these programs struggle to squeeze everything out of every nickel available to them and are then accused of not getting their job done."
DATA SHOWING HEAD START “WOES”
The Association released the following data today highlighting its concerns:
- Nearly 9,000 Head Start slots have been axed in the last three years. Starting from fiscal year 2002 through the projected end of fiscal year 2004, a total of 8,980 fewer children are able to enroll in Head Start. In 2002, Head Start was able to serve 912,345 kids and it is now estimated to serve only 903,365 children, according to NHSA. The Association estimates that another $7.3 billion would be needed in fiscal year 2005 (over and above fiscal year 2004 levels) to provide Head Start to all eligible children in the United States.
- Over half of local Head Start programs have been forced to cut staff and/or program services over the last two years. According to the results of a 2004 NHSA survey, Head Start programs have responded to dwindling federal support in the following ways: 12 percent were forced to cut the number of children served; 18 percent laid off teachers; 27 percent laid off other staff; 40 percent cut back hours or calendar year; and 52 percent cut training.
- Two-thirds of local Head Start programs will have little choice but to enact further cuts in fiscal year 2005. The recent NHSA survey found that Head Start programs expect to be forced to deal with insufficient FY 2005 in the following ways: 20 percent will cut the number of children served; 23 percent will lay off teachers; 50 percent will lay off other staff; 46 percent will cut back hours or calendar year; and 65 percent will cut training. Even before rising salary, teacher training costs and other factors are taken into account, the minimal $123 million increase proposed for Head Start in fiscal year 2005 will not be sufficient to cover the cost of mandatory testing programs and a variety of new federal requirements, such as the costly retrofitting of buses with new safety gear.
- New transportation rules illustrate how local Head Start programs are whipsawed into making costly changes that are not funded. A separate NHSA survey of 379 Head Start programs found that 80 percent of the respondents did not have the funds to purchase new school buses if that is what is required to meet new federal seatbelt safety standards. About half (49 percent) of the programs anticipated that they would be forced to cut transportation services. More than four out of the five Head Start programs indicated that reducing bus service for students would "extremely" (61 percent) or somewhat (21 percent) depress enrollment. Similar high (and unfunded) expenses have been demanded of Head Start grantees to pay for the Bush Administration's controversial SAT-like testing of three- and four-year-old Head Start students.
- The percentage of eligible children served by Head Start is declining. More than 660,000 poor children who are eligible for Head Start today cannot receive services because of a lack of adequate funding. According to NHSA's analysis of U.S. Census data, only 20 percent of eligible U.S. children aged zero to five years old are actually in the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. This percentage reflects two factors: declining financial support for the program and the recent surge of children living in poverty.
- Even deeper cuts could ravage Head Start in 2006. In a secret budget memo accidentally released in June 2004, the Bush Administration revealed the outline of a plan to cut funding for Head Start in fiscal year 2006 by $177 million if they are re-elected. Under this scheme, about 37,915 children would be tossed out of the Head Start program if those funding cuts were enacted into law. State-by-state cuts would include 1,288 children dropped from the program in Pennsylvania, 1,585 kids in Ohio and 1,463 kids in Michigan.
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 nearly 2,700 Head Start and Early 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: A streaming audio recording of a related news event will be available on the Web as of 7 p.m. EDT on October 27, 2004 at http://www.SaveHeadStart.org.
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