The Improving Head Start Act of 2007
May 2nd, 2007 by Jesse LeeBy a strong bipartisan vote of 365-48, the House voted today to improve and reauthorize the Head Start early childhood development and education program. The Improving Head Start Act of 2007 helps more children arrive at school ready to succeed by: improving Head Start’s teacher and classroom quality; expanding access to the program; increasing coordination between Head Start and state and local early childhood services; and strengthening Head Start’s accountability.
Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-11): “We will chart a new course, in the right direction, by ensuring family incomes do not impede a child’s access to educational opportunities. The fact that the Administration and the past few Congresses did not keep the promise to America’s children is unfortunate — we have lost ground. But the good news is that this new Democratic Congress is charting a new direction…” |
Republicans offered a motion to recommit with instructions to allow faith-based Head Start providers to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion using federal dollars. Reps. Chet Edwards (TX-17) and Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05) responded:
Rep. Edwards: “Mr. Speaker, this motion should be called the ‘Religious Job Discrimination Act.’” Rep. Cleaver: “I have been the pastor of the St. James United Methodist Church for 33 years. The Bishop gives me the authority to bring pastors onto our staff — and I discriminate. I have five pastors, all of them are Methodists, and all are paid with Methodist dollars, each one of them. They’re paid out of the stewardship of the Church. And I have the right to do that. But I don’t have the right to accept federal dollars and discriminate.” |
Head Start has been the premiere early education program in this country for more than 40 years, serving more than 20 million children and families in that time. Its goal is to help children from very low-income families reach kindergarten ready to succeed. Head Start is a critical part of this country’s effort to combat the effects of poverty and ensure all of our children have the opportunity and skills they need to thrive.
The Improving Head Start Act of 2007 will:
- Improve Head Start’s workforce quality by increasing funding for teacher and staff salaries and professional development, strengthening the training and technical assistance, and hiring additional qualified staff;
- Strengthen school readiness by re-evaluating and updating current standards and assessments based on the best science, suspending and terminating the badly flawed National Reporting System, and improving professional development related to supporting children’s cognitive, social and emotional development;
- Boost coordination by improving cooperation between Head Start and state and local child care programs to increase full-day and full-year services; improving linkages with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, state health, mental health, and family services; and assisting programs in aligning Head Start and state early learning standards;
- Expand access to up to 10,000 more children;
- Allow programs to convert portions of their grant for use for Early Head Start, which serves children under three years old; and
- Increase accountability by devising a new system of application review that assesses program quality and leads to re-competition of low-quality centers; allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to more quickly strip bad programs of funding; and improving the triennial review process.