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Office of Head Start skip to primary page contentActing Director Patricia Brown

Head Start Program Fact Sheet

Fiscal Year 2006

 
FY 2005 Actual
FY 2006 Appropriation
Local Head Start Projects    
Projects in States and Territories
$6,136,624,000
$6,085,972,000
American Indian and Migrant Programs
$472,666,000
$468,765,000
Subtotal
$6,609,290,000
$6,554,737,000
Support Activities    
Training and Technical Assistance
$174,078,000
$172,644,000
Research, Demonstration and Evaluation
$20,000,000
$19,800,000
Monitoring/Program Review
$38,980,000
$38,590,000
Subtotal
$233,058,000
$231,034,000
                 TOTAL
$6,842,348,000
$6,785,771,000

ADMINISTRATION ON CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES
Head Start Bureau
1250 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20024

Head Start Logo

March 2006

Head Start Facts

The Head Start program is administered by the Head Start Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Grants are awarded by the ACF Regional Offices and the Head Start Bureau's American Indian and Migrant Programs directly to local public agencies, private non-profit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level.

FY-2005 Program Statistics

ENROLLMENT
906,993
     Ages:  
     Number of 5 year olds and older
4%
     Number of 4 year olds
52%
     Number of 3 year olds
34%
     Number under 3 years of age
10%
     Racial/Ethnic Composition  
     American Indian/Alaska Native
5.2%
     Black/African American
31.1%
     White
35.0%
     Asian
1.9%
     Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
.8%
     Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial
7.4%
     Unspecified/Other
18.6%

     Hispanic/Latino
32.9%

NUMBER OF GRANTEES
1,604

     Number of Classrooms
49,235
     Number of Centers
19,800

AVERAGE COST PER CHILD
$7,287
PAID STAFF
213,000
VOLUNTEERS
1,360,000

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During the 2004-2005 Head Start Program Year:

  • 12.5 percent of the Head Start enrollment consisted of children with disabilities, (mental retardation, health impairments, visual handicaps, hearing impairments, emotional disturbance, speech and language impairments, orthopedic handicaps and learning disabilities).


  • Nearly 49,000 children participated in home-based Head Start program services.


  • 69 percent of Head Start teachers have at least an AA degree in Early Childhood Education


  • 27 percent of Head Start program staff members were parents of current or former Head Start children. Over 890,000 parents volunteered in their local Head Start program.


  • 91 percent of Head Start children had health insurance. 84 percent of those with health insurance were enrolled in the Medicaid/Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program or a state sponsored child health insurance program.


  • The 1994 reauthorization of the Head Start Act established the Early Head Start program for low-income families with infants and toddlers. In Fiscal Year 2005, $684 million was used to support more than 650 programs which provided Early Head Start child development and family support services in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These programs served nearly 62,000 children under the age of three.


  • More than 207,000 Head Start fathers participated in organized regularly scheduled activities designed to involve them in Head Start and Early Head Start programs.


  • 100 Head Start and Early Head Start Programs were sponsored by faith-based organizations.

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FY 2005 Head Start Program State Allocations and Enrollment

STATE
FUNDING
ENROLLMENT
ALABAMA
106,345,300
16,374
ALASKA
12,439,387
1,725
ARIZONA
103,225,141
13,215
ARKANSAS
64,354,806
10,942
CALIFORNIA
829,439,955
98,432
COLORADO
68,156,887
9,820
CONNECTICUT
51,760,059
7,126
DELAWARE
13,200,569
2,197
District of Columbia
25,040,757
3,403
FLORIDA
262,433,345
35,530
GEORGIA
168,058,734
23,508
HAWAII
22,825,080
3,049
IDAHO
22,753,002
2,640
ILLINOIS
270,041,013
39,640
INDIANA
95,943,402
14,231
IOWA
51,412,029
7,735
KANSAS
50,790,886
7,931
KENTUCKY
107,557,925
16,071
LOUISIANA
145,513,021
21,982
MAINE
27,537,146
3,955
MARYLAND
77,826,021
10,347
MASSACHUSETTS
108,060,960
12,846
MICHIGAN
233,924,073
35,069
MINNESOTA
71,811,284
10,332
MISSISSIPPI
161,258,325
26,657
MISSOURI
118,674,224
17,451
MONTANA
20,893,223
2,939
NEBRASKA
35,962,321
5,080
NEVADA
24,215,081
2,754
NEW HAMPSHIRE
13,350,255
1,632
NEW JERSEY
128,669,007
14,717
NEW MEXICO
52,160,073
7,451
NEW YORK
432,036,314
49,127
NORTH CAROLINA
140,897,879
19,003
NORTH DAKOTA
17,128,979
2,353
OHIO
246,237,400
38,021
OKLAHOMA
80,833,384
13,915
OREGON
59,310,519
8,792
PENNSYLVANIA
227,563,294
32,282
RHODE ISLAND
21,956,386
3,150
SOUTH CAROLINA
82,281,921
12,248
SOUTH DAKOTA
18,775,080
2,827
TENNESSEE
119,021,587
16,445
TEXAS
477,432,841
67,327
UTAH
37,663,509
5,518
VERMONT
13,523,137
1,569
VIRGINIA
98,833,397
13,696
WASHINGTON
100,094,355
11,102
WEST VIRGINIA
50,507,940
7,610
WISCONSIN
90,635,323
13,538
WYOMING
12,338,291
1,792
AMERICAN INDIAN PROGRAMS
186,936,785
23,592
MIGRANT PROGRAMS
285,729,116
35,461
AMERICAN SAMOA
2,144,436
1,532
GUAM
2,157,838
440
NO. MARIANAS
1,659,790
579
PALAU
1,329,899
509
PUERTO RICO
248,651,708
36,842
VIRGIN ISLANDS
7,975,600
942

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HEAD START ENROLLMENT HISTORY

FISCAL YEAR
ENROLLMENT
APPROPRIATION
1965 (summer only)
561,000
$ 96,400,000
1966
733,000
198,900,000
1967
681,400
349,200,000
1968
693,900
316,200,000
1969
663,600
333,900,000
1970
477,400
325,700,000
1971
397,500
360,000,000
1972
379,000
376,300,000
1973
379,000
400,700,000
1974
352,800
403,900,000
1975
349,000
403,900,000
1976
349,000
441,000,000
1977
333,000
475,000,000
1978
391,400
625,000,000
1979
387,500
680,000,000
1980
376,300
735,000,000
1981
387,300
818,700,000
1982
395,800
911,700,000
1983
414,950
912,000,000
1984
442,140
995,750,000
1985
452,080
1,075,059,000
1986
451,732
1,040,315,000
1987
446,523
1,130,542,000
1988
448,464
1,206,324,000
1989
450,970
1,235,000,000
1990
540,930
1,552,000,000
1991
583,471
1,951,800,000
1992
621,078
2,201,800,000
1993
713,903
2,776,286,000
1994
740,493
3,325,728,000
1995
750,696
3,534,128,000
1996
752,077
3,569,329,000
1997
793,809
3,980,546,000
1998
822,316
4,347,433,000
1999
826,016
4,658,151,448
2000
857,664
5,267,000,000
2001
905,235
6,200,000,000
2002
912,345
6,536,570,000
2003
909,608
6,667,533,000
2004
905,851
6,774,848,000
2005
906,993
6,843,114,000

The Head Start program has enrolled more than 23 million children since it began in 1965.

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