SHORTCHANGING HEAD START KIDS: NHSA OBJECTS TO HHS DIRECTIONS TO CUT WAGES, HEALTH CARE BENEFITS OF TEACHERS, STAFF AND ALSO TO “BEG” FOR HELP FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES
NHSA Says Painful and Unfair Cuts Will Not Result in Significant Savings; These Personal Sacrifices “Would Never Be Asked of a Worker for a Defense Department Contractor.
WASHINGTON,
D.C.///October 26, 2006//The National Head Start Association (NHSA) is objecting to what it calls “untenable” directions from the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Department to cut salaries, health care benefits and retirement arrangements for teachers and other staff as an alternative to necessary enrollment adjustments for Head Start grantees that have been crippled by budget cuts. NHSA also said it was an “insult” to Head Start grantees to suggest that they should go hat in hand to beg local businesses for more support to offset dwindling federal support.
In a letter to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, NHSA Board Chairman Ron Herndon and NHSA President and CEO Sarah Greene wrote: “The (HHS) Program Instruction (PI) lists a series of unrealistic requirements that Head Start programs must meet in order to justify a reduction in enrollment—these requirements include cutting staff, fringe benefits, and off-site training, as well as seeking additional funding through donations and other non-federal sources … While we have a number of issues with the specifics of the PI, the combined effect of taking these required actions would only marginally affect the budget of any Head Start program. As ACF is well aware, most costs incurred by Head Start programs are incurred to meet minimum regulatory requirements (such as adequate numbers of teachers and teacher aides and sufficient classroom space to meet mandatory ratios) and simply cannot be reduced. Moreover, due to the tight funding in prior years including the elimination of most of the one-time and program improvement funds, most, if not all, Head Start programs have operated only with the bare necessities for quite some time.”
Commenting on the letter, NHSA President and CEO Greene said: “It is a shame to see that those responsible for educating America’s most at-risk children are being asked to make the kind of personal financial sacrifices that would never be asked of a worker for a Defense Department contractor. Many Head Start staff workers are women who are trying to lift themselves up out of poverty, and these crippling cuts often make it impossible for them to turn around their lives and those of their families. In reality, local programs already have put into effect these suggestions on a reluctant basis over the last five years. Federal resources for Head Start have either been cut or flat-funded, such that programs are now struggling to survive with just the bare essentials needed to meet federal standards.”
In their joint letter, Herndon and Greene also wrote: “To add insult to injury, the PI states that ‘[g]rantees should also speak with local business and philanthropic organizations about the possibility of making contributions to your Head Start program. Local businesses may be interested in helping Head Start as a gesture of goodwill and as a public relations strategy.’ Obviously, while a donation or two from local businesses would not be unwelcome, ACF has recently shut the door on any fundraising efforts by Head Start programs with its Program Instruction on the subject … Moreover, on a practical level, it is naïve for ACF to think that one-time donations to individual programs from local business will staunch years of programmatic bleeding or be sufficient to replace the lost operational funds. Additionally, from a legal perspective, Congress has stated explicitly in the Head Start Act that ACF will fund 80 percent of any Head Start program. Absent a change to the Head Start Act, ACF simply has no authority to force Head Start programs indirectly to provide more that the required non-federal match.”
The letter continues: “We are extremely concerned that the (existing rules for) … adjusting enrollment requirements for Head Start programs is unreasonable and detrimental to program quality ... Specifically, we ask that ACF take the following steps: terminate immediately some or all of the contracts with the training and technical assistance contractors and provide the savings from those terminations directly to Head Start programs; promulgate regulations that detail the process for setting enrollment requirements for Head Start programs and for changing those requirements; … approve any reasonable request for the reduction in the number of enrollment slots without requiring extensive and onerous documentation (and without reducing funding) …”
Explaining the need for HHS action, Herndon and Greene wrote: “… Head Start programs were hit with the 1 percent across-the-board funding cut in FY 2006. This reduction came on the heels of a number of years of relatively flat funding. In fact, this situation is likely to get worse if the President’s proposed budget for Head Start for FY 2007 is passed by Congress which contains a miniscule $2.8 million increase in funding, or roughly 6 cents per enrolled child per week. At the same time, over the past few years, programs have faced sharp increases in non-discretionary costs, such as utilities, fuel, salaries, insurance, fringe benefits and many other items. Head Start’s history of flat funding, coupled with increased program costs, and the recent one-percent across-the-board cut in funding, leave these programs drastically short of funding as they try to deliver basic services.”
The full text of the NHSA letter is available on line at http://www.saveheadstart.org.
ABOUT NHSA
The National Head Start Association (http://www.nhsa.org) 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 1 million children, 200,000 staff and 2,600 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 Wolf, for NHSA, (703) 276-3265 or aaaron@hastingsgroup.com. |
