Controversy and Challenges with New Head Start Bill
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 -Despite a controversial amendment that weakened Democratic support for the measure, the House Thursday passed a bill authorizing a $45 million increase in funding for Head Start.
The House passed an amendment largely along party lines that would allow faith-based Head Start providers to discriminate on the basis of religion in hiring
“The notion that a Baptist shouldn’t have to hire a Jew… I can’t imagine it,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D- Mass.), who voted against the bill because of the amendment. “I think this issue is a very fundamental principle in America.”
The bill also included provisions designed to strengthen accountability, increase the focus on academic success, and create more competition among the agencies that provide services.
The bill passed by a vote of 231-184.
The Senate passed its version of the bill in May. That version does not contain the controversial provisions about religious discrimination. It remains unclear whether House and Senate negotiators will leave those sections in when they meet to reconcile the differences in the two bills.
Widely considered one of the most successful federal programs, Head Start provides academic readiness, nutritional, health, and social support services for low-income children ages five and under. The program served more than 905,000 students nationwide and more than 13,000 Massachusetts children in 2004.
New Bedford’s Head Start agency serves 343 children at two sites, one on Madison Street and the other on Smith Street, and has a waiting list of 50, according to Karen Surprenant, director of the agency.
The act attempts to create a stronger system of financial oversight and transparency, in response to fraud complaints reported by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm.
“We’ve heard alarming reports from across the country that Head Start funds . are being used inappropriately or [are] simply unaccounted for,” said Alexa Marrero, spokeswoman for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Local officials, however, said that several changes intended to solve this problem in fact compromise an agency’s ability to provide the best possible service to needy families.
The bill requires individual Head Start agencies with performance problems to compete for continued funding against other agencies.
“The goal is that the highest quality program available is going to be providing services for the child,” said Marrero.
Some, however, believe that the provisions are unnecessarily harsh.
“We want to see programs that are poorly performing have an opportunity to make a correction” before losing their grant,” said Nancy Topping-Tailby, executive director of the Massachusetts Head Start Association. Changing programs could destabilize the community connections the program tries to achieve, she said.
Another major point of contention is the changing role of the parent-driven policy councils that traditionally provide significant guidance to individual agencies.
The councils currently have significant responsibility for financial matters, hiring and firing staff, and reviewing policy and procedure, said Topping-Tailby. The new bill, she explained, restricts these responsibilities, diminishing parents’ input into the running of the program.
“I think that parent involvement has really contributed to the success of [the program],” said Surprenant. “I would hate to lose that.”
The bill also requires that 50 percent of Head Start teachers at any agency hold at least an associate’s degree, which is a two-year degree from a community college, and that nationwide half of the teachers hold bachelor’s degrees.
“[This] provides some degree of flexibility for local groups but ensures that, across the board, we are increasing the level of qualification,” Marrero said.
Topping-Tailby and Surprenant, however, said that the bill offers no additional funding for this goal, making it more difficult to achieve.
“There’s a lot of movement out of Head Start when people get their degrees and are able to get jobs in the public school system for more money,” said Topping-Tailby.
