National Head Start Association

REPORT: PLAN WOULD TURN HEAD START INTO "DEAD END," LEAVE NEARLY 1 MILLION AT-RISK KIDS UNREADY TO LEARN

National Association Launches www.SaveHeadStart.org Web Campaign; Study Finds as Few as Three States Prepared to Take on Head Start's Job

WASHINGTON, D.C.//April 16, 2003///A controversial Bush Administration plan to dismantle Head Start could leave nearly 1 million at-risk children unready to learn in school since as few as three states have experience providing the full range of comprehensive health, nutrition and educational services required by at-risk children and now provided by Head Start, according to a report issued today by the National Head Start Association (NHSA). The NHSA report concludes that, far from "improving" Head Start, the Administration would make a "dead end" of Head Start in five years or less, due, in part, to the plan's reliance on budget-deficit crippled states that currently are slashing funds for early childhood development and education.

NHSA also announced that it is launching today a major Web-based campaign at http://www.SaveHeadStart.org to encourage parents, grandparents, educators and others to let federal and state elected officials know of their opposition to the attack on Head Start.

"America owes the nearly 1 million at-risk Head Start children and their families an honest public debate about the Bush Administration's risky scheme to make a dead end of Head Start," said National Head Start Association Chairman Ron Herndon, who also is director of the Albina Head Start Program in Portland, OR. "Let's stop the cynical word games that are being used to describe the dismantling of Head Start as something that somehow will 'improve' it." If Head Start funds are diverted and sent to state governments struggling with crippling budget deficits, you either will see fewer kids served or those who do get help will be in programs that are not of Head Start's proven quality. Head Start is one of the federal government's great success stories. This is a classic if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it situation."

Dr. George L. Askew, founder, Docs For Tots, and past chief, Health and Disabilities Services Branch of the Head Start Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said: "We are talking about nearly one million children a year now served by Head Start who face special health and learning challenges that other kids don't have to worry about. These children need the health care, meals and special classroom attention that Head Start is set up to provide. If Head Start is dismantled and these kids are lumped into programs that aren't designed for them, they will be left behind. We simply can't afford to write off tens of thousand of American kids in that fashion."

Allyson Cline, national director of the United Way of America's Success By 6 program, said: "Head Start has compiled a nearly 40-year record of success in serving America's children and their families. This is an education issue, but it also is a community and a business issue. Working parents who rely upon Head Start need to know that it is going to be there for them. Employers need to be sure that the current generation of young children starts out with the right skills to be productive citizens and workers in the future. We just can't afford to take away what is literally a 'head start' for the kids who are in greatest need."

Since 1965, Head Start has benefited more than 20 million at-risk children and their families. In 2002 alone, Head Start and Early Head Start programs worked with over 900,000 children through 2,590 local programs that serve families in communities across America and involve the efforts of more than 900,000 community-based volunteers, who would have no clear role to play under the Bush Administration proposal.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT

NHSA's new report, "Dismantling Head Start: The Case for Saving America's Most Successful Early Childhood Development Program," explains that the Administration's proposal unreasonably endangers the futures of the nearly 1 million at-risk children now served by Head Start since:

Head Start works. As the NHSA report concludes: "Any review of the numerous independent studies of Head Start leads to one inescapable conclusion: Head Start delivers to America's neediest children exactly what its name promises - a literal 'head start' in preparation for school and life." The federal Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) released in January 2001 concluded that Head Start graduates enter kindergarten "ready to learn." The most recent Head Start Monitoring Report submitted to Congress by the Department of Health and Human Services in February 2003 found that Head Start programs provide high quality, comprehensive services to the children and families they serve. Other independent studies show that Head Start children are more likely to stay in school and less likely to be charged with or convicted of a crime. A December 1999 Presidential Management Council report gave Head Start a higher customer satisfaction score than any other government agency. Head Start achieved a higher customer satisfaction score above that of many major companies, including Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Head Start can be improved without dismantling the program. The NHSA report notes: "Head Start's 38-year track record of success is attributable in large part to the unrelenting insistence by Congress, [NHSA], and other concerned groups that the program be held to the highest possible standards of achievement." NHSA and local Head Start officials have supported since 1994 the termination of funding for the tiny minority of Head Start classrooms that have failed to meet expectations. In 1998, NHSA sought to increase the number of highly trained and educated teachers in the classroom and supported efforts to ensure that at least 50 percent of all Head Start teachers have an associate's degree or better by September 2003, a goal Head Start has already achieved.

Head Start-state collaboration already is taking place. Several important initiatives were supported by NHSA during the 1994 reauthorization process, including the creation of 50 state collaboration grants so that Head Start would be better able to coordinate with other agencies and state early education and child care programs. In 1998, NHSA supported efforts to improve the transition of Head Start graduates into the public school system.

As few as three states are equipped to handle Head Start's job. One recent study found that only three states have any experience with providing the comprehensive services now delivered by Head Start to ensure that at-risk children are ready to learn in school. No state has comparable data proving that its current or planned early childhood development program work (or would work) as effectively as does Head Start. As NHSA report notes: "Given the extraordinarily high level of assessment, evaluation and reform required over the last four decades of Head Start, it would be a radical departure for Congress simply to throw caution to the wind and hope for the best in terms of what the states might come up with to replace Head Start." Of the 30 state pre-school programs examined by independent researchers, only three states -- Delaware, Oregon and Washington -- were found to provide the same set of eight comprehensive services required of Head Start programs. The researchers concluded "whereas Head Start programs are mandated to provide comprehensive services to all enrolled children and families, state pre-school programs are inconsistent in their delivery of these services."

States would end up serving fewer children or providing a lower level of service to at-risk children. Even if states maintain the number of children served today, there is no assurance that they will be able to afford to do so in the future. As many as 49 of the 50 states are facing combined budget gaps of approximately $100 billion that must be closed over the next several months, including $25 billion in deficits in the current fiscal year and between $70 and $85 billion for the fiscal year that begins in June. Lawmakers forced to balance state budgets are now slashing preschool and other early care programs across America. In 2002, 10 states -- including Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia -- reported cuts in state investments in pre-kindergarten programs. This year, many states either already have made or are considering significant new cuts in their investments in early childhood programs. Although the Administration has spoken of the need to provide comprehensive services, its plan does nothing to ensure that states will be required to or be capable of providing these services to Head Start-eligible children, especially in a time of the serious and growing deficits now crippling states.

The bureaucratic overhead and costs of administering the program will rise dramatically under state control. The U.S. General Accounting Office has estimated that the overhead costs associated with states administering programs funded with federal dollars to be approximately six percent of the total budget. The resulting loss of $418 million is the equivalent of approximately 59,000 Head Start student slots. The NHSA report points out: "In one clear sign of the sizable and onerous costs associated with the extra bureaucracy required under the Administration's plan, the portion of Head Start's budget that normally would be set aside to improve quality, instead, would be used by states to draft their plans to administer Head Start. Here, we are able to see how the program would work in stark terms: Substitute new bureaucracies and related costs for the existing emphasis on Head Start quality."

Head Start could be killed in five years or less. Even as few as half of the 50 states opting in to divert Head Start funding could decimate the program. The NHSA report notes: "A substantially enervated federal Head Start presence will result in weaker and weaker insistence on (and ability to impose) quality controls at the state level, as well as steadily diminishing Hill interest in putting dollars into what will have become a de facto "state" program. As is all too evident from the experience with social program block grants, the abandonment by the federal government of its direct involvement of a program leads to an erosion of funding. Within five years, America's most successful and extensively-tested early childhood program could undergo an equally remarkable and tragic transformation from 'head start' to 'dead end'."

NHSA's Herndon said: "Head Start should be expanded, not trashed. Today, Head Start serves just three out of five eligible 3- and 4-year-old children. Given the established track record of nearly four decades of Head Start, two questions must be asked: Why isn't Congress building on the success of Head Start by expanding the program to cover more eligible children? And even more to the point: Why would Congress go in exactly the opposite direction and dismantle the legacy of Head Start?"

ABOUT THE "SAVEHEADSTART.ORG" WEB SITE

Located at http://www.SaveHeadStart.org, the NHSA Web-based campaign to encourage the public to speak out against the attack on Head Start features a powerful tool permitting visitors to send customizable email messages or regular mail to their member of Congress, two Senators and governor. The Web site includes the text of the NHSA report and background information from other organizations.

The Web-based letter to elected officials reads in part: "I am writing to you to express my opposition to any proposed changes to Head Start that would dismantle the program. I am urging my Congressional delegation and Governor to speak out in favor of preserving Head Start as it exists today. I do not support turning over Head Start to the states at a time of record budget revenue shortfalls that are leading to deep cuts in state government support for early childhood education and development programs. I will not be fooled by word games. I do not believe that you can 'improve' Head Start by breaking it up and diverting its funding to the states for use in untested and unproven programs that may not survive deficit-driven state budget cuts over the next few years."

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. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start family by advocating for policies that provide high-quality services to children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development services to all Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that impact Head Start program delivery. NHSA represents more than 900,000 children and their families, 200,000 staff, 1,900 Head Start programs, and 600 Early Head Start programs in America. NHSA provides a national forum for the continued delivery and enhancement of Head Start services for at-risk children and their families.

CONTACT: Christine Kraly or Scott Stapf, for NHSA, (703) 276-3258 or ckraly@hastingsgroup.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: By 4 p.m. EDT on April 16, 2003, a streaming audio replay of the NHSA news conference will be available on the Web at www.SaveHeadStart.org.