John McHugh

Contact: Matt Lavoie

GIVING OUR KIDS A HEAD START - A Column from Rep. John M. McHugh
IN MY OWN WORDS: A Column from Rep. John M. McHugh

	McHugh visits school

Washington, May 7, 2007 - Education is a keystone to improving the quality of life in our region of New York and the rest of America. It not only serves as a portal to the American Dream; it also shapes the future of our nation. As Abraham Lincoln once told us, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”

On May 2, 2007, I joined with my colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass legislation, the Improving Head Start Act (HR 1429), to enhance our educational infrastructure. Specifically, this legislation reauthorizes and continues the Head Start program, which provides early education and other services to nearly one million children in order to better prepare them to succeed in school and throughout their lives.

Here in Northern and Central New York, children have benefited from Head Start in several ways, including comprehensive health and nutritional services along with education. A readiness gap continues to exist between children of different economic backgrounds, one that we must combat with fierce determination to ensure all children enter school prepared to learn.

The bill also is designed to strengthen the quality and effectiveness of the Head Start program. For instance, it would require at least 50% of Head Start teachers nationwide to have at least a baccalaureate degree in early childhood education or a related field by 2013 and it would provide the funding needed for increases in teacher and staff salaries. This will attract additional highly qualified professionals to the field of early education.



The bill would also give Head Start programs the flexibility to help additional children where necessary, while requiring criminal background checks on new employees in an effort to better provide child safety.



If you ask a group of children in Upstate New York what they wish to be when they grow up, the variety of answers received would likely be numerous. We must remember that the future career they name will begin or end with their quality of education. Thus, in our list of priorities, we must continue to place education at the top; I can assure you that America will be the better for it.



The Improving Head Start Act has been sent to the Senate, and I will urge the members of that chamber to pass this legislation as quickly as possible, so that we may continue to open the American Dream to children of all backgrounds.