HEAD START SURVEY: U.S. SENATE BILL WOULD BACKFIRE BY TRIGGERING “MAJOR MELTDOWN” OF TEACHERS IN PROGRAM

Unintended Consequences: Bill Would Mean Fewer – Not More – B.A. Degrees for Teachers

To hear the December 17, 2003 news event, click here.

WASHINGTON, D.C.//December 17, 2003//Nearly three out of four (72 percent) Head Start teachers say that they would start looking for other work if a bill pending before the U.S. Senate giving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and state governors sweeping authority to shut down Head Start programs in five years becomes federal law, according to a national teacher survey released today by the National Head Start Association (NHSA).

The massive online poll of 2,341 Head Start instructors nationwide reveals that the Senate bill (S. 1940) would backfire: 66 percent of surveyed Head Start teachers would be less likely to pursue BAs and other higher degrees (a major focus of the bill) if, as is currently the case, the legislation fails to provide the necessary funds for training. More than half (52 percent) of instructors who could get higher degrees say that they would be less likely to do so in the wake of certain Senate bill provisions paving the way for potentially widespread local program shutdowns in five years. More than nine out of 10 (92 percent) Head Start teachers said that it would be harder to attract new Head Start teachers if the Senate bill’s provisions permitting large-scale shutdowns of existing Head Start programs after five years are made law.

National Head Start Association (NHSA) President Sarah Greene said: “These are extremely dedicated education professionals who are working with America’s most at-risk children to get them ready for school. But we have to face facts: These people have been systematically maligned by people who have been saying anything and everything to manufacture a case for dismantling Head Start. These teachers are real troopers, but there are limits to how many attacks and how much uncertainty anyone can take. Congress should be getting behind these teachers by getting every eligible child into Head Start and making it easier to get training and advanced degrees. Instead, some Members of Congress and the Administration continue to criticize Head Start teachers in an entirely unfair way and then raise the bar for educational degrees without providing the necessary funding. In the real world, this bill will do the exact reverse of what it intends: It will mean fewer – not more – teachers get B.A. degrees.”

Ron Herndon, NHSA chairman and director of the Albina Head Start program in Portland, OR, said: “Head Start teachers and local program administrators are extremely demoralized to see a U.S. Senate bill that includes some very troubling provisions. When you combine the expanded involvement of Governors in Head Start with the vague and arbitrary authority granted HHS in the Senate bill, we foresee Head Start becoming a political football in states where Governors and HHS would use their power to kill existing grantees – regardless of their merits – in favor of politically- favored organizations. The Head Start community knows what is going on and, as such, it is going to be hard to prevent a major meltdown of current and prospective Head Start teachers.”

Even without any change in federal law, the attacks on Head Start are having their tolls on the morale of instructors. The NHSA survey found that the “current uncertainty in Washington, D.C., about the future of the Head Start program” is making 66 percent of teachers more likely to “think about looking for other work” immediately – even before Congress acts on the pending Senate bill.

Allison McKinnon, a teacher at the Southwest Human Development Head Start program in Phoenix, AZ., said: “Head Start teachers should be saluted heroes, but we now find ourselves being treated by Congress as ‘zeroes.’ We see the results and we know what Head Start does to get the poorest and most severely disadvantaged children in America ready to learn in kindergarten and beyond. It is disenchanting to teachers to see the Senate bill presented as some kind of big improvement on the measure passed on a partisan basis in the House. In many ways, the Senate bill is worse. Instead of taking a big bite out of Head Start immediately, it bides its time and does the same thing later – and possibly on a much more damaging scale than the controversial House bill.”

The survey findings reflect widespread alarm among Head Start instructors about provisions in the U.S. Senate bill that grant to HHS and state governors expanded discretion to terminate existing Head Start programs in five years. Teacher concerns about a wave of shutdowns of even the highest quality Head Start programs across the U.S. under the Senate bill is further aggravated by an "unfunded B.A. mandate," under which Head Start instructors would be required to achieve higher educational degrees, but no funds are provided for necessary financial aid and more comparable salaries. Head Start teachers already face extremely low pay, averaging about $21,000 a year, which is less than half that of the national average for comparable public school teachers.

Under the Senate bill, Head Start programs actually would be threatened with defunding if Head Start teachers fail to get the higher degrees. The Trust for Early Education has estimated that Congress needs to set aside $2.2 billion for scholarships and compensation if Head Start teachers are to achieve the 50 percent B.A. requirement in the Head Start reauthorization bill passed in the House.

DETAILED SURVEY FINDINGS

The NHSA survey of 2,341 Head Start instructors nationwide was conducted on the Web via a password-protected Web site from November 25-December 9, 2003. Survey respondents were asked to identify their state, length of service, highest educational credential, instructor status and views on six multiple-choice questions. The key survey findings were as follows:

• The “current uncertainty in Washington, D.C. about the future of the Head Start program” makes 66 percent of teachers “much more” or “somewhat more likely to think about looking for other work” now. Only about one in 10 teachers (12 percent) said that the current attacks on Head Start would have “no change” on their immediate plans.
• Nearly three out of four (72 percent) of the surveyed Head Start teachers would be more likely to start looking for other work if provisions in a bill pending before the U.S. Senate giving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and state governors greatly expanded power to shutdown Head Start programs in five years become law. Only 6 percent of instructors said that they would be less likely to look for other employment.
• More than half (52 percent) of instructors who could get higher degrees say that they would be less likely to do so in the wake of enactment of Senate bill provisions paving the way for potentially widespread local program shutdowns in five years. Only 12 percent say that the risk of losing their job through a program shutdown would not influence their plans for getting an advanced degree.
• Two-thirds of surveyed Head Start teachers would be less likely to pursue higher degrees if Congress does not provide the necessary funding for training. Only 7 percent of the survey respondents indicated that there would be no impact from the legislation on their plans for higher degrees in the absence of training support.
• Half (51 percent) of Head Start instructors would be less likely to pursue higher educational degrees if the Congress raises the bar for educational degrees, but fails to increase Head Start teacher salaries commensurately.
• More than nine out of 10 (92 percent) Head Start teachers said that it would be “very” or “somewhat” harder to attract new Head Start teachers if the Senate bill’s provisions become law.

The survey attracted responses from nearly one of 25 of Head Start’s existing 51,861 teachers. Teachers accounted for 70 percent of the survey respondents and assistant teachers for the balance. Almost half (48 percent) of survey respondents had a Child Development (21 percent) or Associate Degree (27 percent) as their highest educational achievement. About one in five (19 percent) of the respondents had B.A.s, and the other third reported having a graduate degree (23 percent) or other degree (10 percent). A wide range of teacher experience was reflected in the survey: less than one year (11 percent); one-three years (28 percent); four-10 years (34 percent); 11-20 years (18 percent); and more than 20 years (9 percent).

Complete survey findings – including the multiple-choice questions and topline survey results are available online at http://www.saveheadstart.org/understand.html.

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: Christine Kraly, (703) 276-3258 or ckraly@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.